A Whacked Midsummer Night's Dream
by sapphire-eyed-dreamer
Summary: Who knew that a paopu fruit could actually be a substitute for the flower called “Love in idleness”? What will happen when four teenagers are thrown into a bizarre Midsummer Night’s Dream? Shakespeare wasn't this confusing. AU SoraxKairi RoxasxNamine
1. Act I Part I

**A/N: **Second KH fic. I had this idea in my head for some time now, but I wasn't able to type it out because of school. Anyway, here we go, first chapter. Enjoy!

**Summary: **Who knew that a paopu fruit could actually be a substitute for the flower called "Love in idleness"? What will happen when four teenagers are thrown into a bizarre Midsummer Night's Dream?

**Disclaimer:**. Okay, I own copies of KH I, KH: CoM and KH II. But I don't OWN it. I own a copy of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, but I don't OWN it. Sheesh.

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**Act I Part I – The Seniors**

People grinned, smirked and giggled, as Cloud and Tifa walked together across the school grounds, the former keeping his head as low as possible. Tifa could only smile at him. Cloud wasn't the sociable type, and the news that they were now an official couple had spread through the grapevine and out to the student body of Kingdom High like wildfire. The two of them were what everyone would call as the greatest social leaders in the school, a perfect 10. Both of them were at the top of their classes, both in brawns and brains, and the idea that they were now going out seemed the perfect cherry on top of the ice cream. They both headed for the gym and Cloud snapped his attention to the group of people there.

"Can't believe we have to set up all of this within four days." he muttered, gesturing to the different boxes huddled in a corner. "Wish it was today, that way everything will be over." Tifa nodded her head silently. She had been getting less sleep the past few days (and no, it wasn't because she was lovesick) and she hoped the eyebugs didn't show much. The Valentine's Day dance will be held within four days and both of them have been pretty busy with the preparations. She was glad that she was in her senior year. At least this will be her last year.

"Four days will pass soon enough so let's hang in there, okay?" she said comfortingly, walking up the steps that led to the gymnasium. Right on cue, a hyper, brown haired girl with hair curled just above her shoulders came up.

"So how are the preparations coming along?" Tifa asked immediately. "Just peachy. We're still thinking of what to do with the band. Last school dance, WE had to be the band. Rinoa said the music was horrible." Selphie said, handing Tifa the list of activities and wiping her face with a yellow handkerchief.

Cloud's mouth twitched slightly at the thought of last year's music. It felt like the same, monotonous music kept playing throughout the night, torturing the students into a very horrible LSS (but then again, he was outside with Tifa so he was saved from that dilemma).

"How about inviting some students who could **actually** play? There are some good ones around the campus you know." he suggested.

"Yeah, let's do that. I don't wanna hear an 'Eyes on Me' instrumental playing like someone put it on a broken CD player and it keeps jumping." she grinned wickedly at Selphie, and the latter crossed her arms.

"It's Irvine's fault you know! I wasn't the one who lost the sheet music!" she complained, but swiftly changed the subject at the sight of Tifa eyeing her friend weirdly at the sound of the "cowboy"'s name. "So, like, is the news from the grapevine true? Maybe we should turn this into a sort of Tifa-and-Cloud-are-finally-together party."

Tifa glared at her, face flushed while Cloud gave a loud cough, turning from the conversation. "I didn't come here to be interviewed for a talk show you know. Okay people, less dawdling, let's move!" she called, and several people groaned, denied from the gossip they wanted to hear. Selphie sighed in frustration and followed Tifa around.

"Let's mosey." Cloud called, and soon the gym was filled with a loud rhythm of items being moved and orders being shouted, the commands coming from Tifa, Cloud or Selphie. Three more seniors then walked in, two of them holding a large box in between them, the third one carrying a sheaf of papers.

"Here ya go guys. Balloons and streamers for the dance. Cid will be bringing in the pump tomorrow." said Zack as he and Riku put down the box. Tifa walked over and inspected it as Selphie clasped her hands together.

"Please, no more pink..." she pleaded.

"What's wrong with pink?" Aerith asked, inspecting her pink dress and frowning. Zack gave a laugh as Cloud pried open the box.

"Last year, Marluxia was in charge of the color of the decorations. The gymnasium looked like it came out of Cotton Candy land." cringed Tifa, taking the papers from Aerith as she giggled, and Selphie gave a cry of triumph at the contents of the box. "Blue, white, purple and pink! Okay, I can live with that."

"Marluxia's not just effeminate. He's gay. **PINKISH-BROWN, LONG HAIR** Aerith! That's not normal!" Zack told Aerith seriously.

Everyone laughed and even Cloud gave a small smile, except Riku, who, from arrival, didn't look like he was in the mood. Zack cocked an eyebrow.

"What's with you?"

He gave a huff, and looked sullenly at another direction.

"Girl problem?" queried Aerith but Selphie spoke up.

"Not with his girlfriends, no." she said, stressing the plural form and causing another burst of laughter. "Sister Problem."

Cloud and Tifa exchanged looks. They were friends with Riku for a long time now, and when it comes to his sister...well, he can be overprotective and manipulative. To the point of doing something drastic. Selphie, the natural gossiper that she was, opened her mouth to ask what's up but was slammed down by Tifa.

"Okkkkkkkaaaaaay! Aerith. Take these papers back to Principal Ansem. Selphie, start working on recruiting people who will play for the dance. Zack! Um..." she snapped her fingers repeatedly, looking for a job he can do. Anything to leave her, Cloud and Riku alone.

"Do us a favor and bring us some snacks from the cafeteria." Cloud supplied wildly. "On the way, be sure to be the loud human-billboard you are and do some advertising." he added.

"Sure thing." Zack grinned. The moment he turned around, he hollered out:

"Kingdom High, come on let's party! Turn those frowns upside down! In a few days we'll be having our Cloud-and-Tifa-are-finally-together-party-- I'm kidding, I'm kidding!" he ducked from Tifa's swats as she chased him out, Aerith at her heels, giggling and Selphie cracking up behind them.

"So are you gonna tell us what's troubling you?" Cloud asked. Him, Tifa and Riku were sitting in the courtyard feasting on some Sea Salt Ice Cream that Zack had brought back a few minutes ago. (The moment that he gave them the food he left with Aerith, afraid that Tifa might give him more than what he bargained for. Selphie was busy deciding on whether a moogle or a chocobo should go on the poster, head cocked criticizingly on one side as she designed a sign-up sheet for those interested in playing for the dance.) Riku raised an eyebrow and threw his popsicle stick on a nearby trash bin.

"Hmm...should I say it? I haven't even congratulated you two yet." He grinned mischievously. This cheeky comment earned him a slap on the arm from Tifa, and that was no joke, since the girl can take out boys larger than her during fist to fist fights. It was proven that Cloud was the only boy that can beat her.

"Just spill already." Cloud said sullenly, trying to hide the red that crept in his face. Riku sighed, massaging the spot that Tifa hit, then pointed across the courtyard to a couple sitting in a bench. An auburn haired girl was laughing with a spiky-haired brunette who had a huge goofy smile on his face.

"Exhibit A. Of course both of you know my sister Kairi of course." he stated, and Cloud nodded. Tifa cocked her head. So, what's wrong? Riku pointed to a nearby picnic table where two blondes were sitting, a boy and a girl. The girl had pale blonde hair drawn over one shoulder and was sketching on a light cream colored sketchpad, once or twice looking up at the boy, who had dark blonde hair that stuck up as if gravity didn't act on it, and was busy examining a skateboard. Tifa knew that the girl was named Naminé, since she saw the girl's name in the school's newspaper whenever she won an art competition. The boy, she wasn't so sure, but he did look familiar. It suddenly hit Tifa. That guy was a Keyblade scholar, like Riku.

"Exhibit B. Roxas. Next door neighbor. Don't you guys agree that he's nice enough for my sister?" he asked. Cloud raised an eyebrow and slowly nodded, but Tifa frowned. She didn't like this. "He has affections for my sister, and that's fine with me." Riku continued. As if to prove his point, Roxas looked up from examining his skateboard and turned to glance at the Kairi, who was laughing as the boy next to her as he made another funny face. This time, Riku jabbed a finger at the said boy's direction.

"Exhibit C. Sora. Major idiot and bad influence. Captured my sister's heart. Because of him, she's turning into a rebel! He and Kairi sneak out at night to goodness knows where and since mom and dad are in heaven, I'm helpless here! Every time I tell her to stop having a relationship with him, she continues to disobey me! He serenades her at night and if I try to attack him with my Keyblade, Kairi stops me! He's annoying! His voice is annoying! Do you know that Roxas can sing better than that twerp!"

"Okay Riku, stop, we get the point!" Tifa cried, seeing Riku had stood up and was halfway in reaching for his Way to the Dawn that was strapped to his back. All Keyblade scholars are allowed to carry their weapons around the campus. So far, the only Keyblade scholars were Riku, Sora and Roxas. There were rumors though that Kairi was also in line for training. Riku relaxed slightly, but still threw dirty glares at the spiky-haired brunette boy. Tifa was amazed that he didn't caught on fire right there on the spot.

"So like, what are you planning to do?" Cloud asked, brow furrowed. Riku gave a smirk.

"Simple. If she doesn't stay away from happy-kid there...I'll be sending her to Radiant Garden." he said lightly, as if he was just commenting on the weather. Tifa's mouth opened wide.

"Did you tell her about this!" Tifa gaped.

"Nope. Not yet, anyway. Come on buddy, me and you are gonna confront the little princess." Cloud's eyes widened as Riku grabbed him and shoved him violently. Tifa stood up in protest. "What are you doing!"

"Leaving for history class. Me and Cloud will confront my little sis later. See ya Tifa!" Riku called, and Cloud said his own goodbye inaudibly, glaring at Riku as they left. Right on cue, the bell rang, and Tifa eyed as Sora and Kairi left for class together, followed a few seconds later by Roxas and Naminé.

"Why do I get the feeling that things will get worse?" Tifa asked nobody in particular.

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There we go, first chapter up. Please, if you read, and you liked it, review! It makes me want to write more if there are people who actually like my stories. So, like, give the little button there some love. No flamers please.

So, here's what we know so far. Branching out from Shakespeare's story…

**Theseus - **Cloud

**Hippolyta - **Tifa

**Egeus - **Riku

**Lysander - **Sora

**Demetrius - **Roxas

**Hermia – **Kairi

**Helena – **Naminé

Zack acted out Philostrate back there. Hey, Theseus ordered Philostrate to "Tell the Athenian Youth to be happy…" so…


	2. Act I Part II

**A/N:** Chapter 2 people. Right, let's finish Act I now shall we?

**Disclaimer: **Go to Wikipedia, type Tetsuya Nomura, and yeah, you'll see he owns Kingdom Hearts.

**Act I Part II – Plans**

Naminé glared slightly at the blonde boy sitting across from her. They were in the library doing their homework (actually, _she_ was doing her homework, Roxas was just gonna copy later) and she was starting to get annoyed. Not because he was lazy. It was his constant humming. (Seriously, he should stop sitting next to Demyx during history class.) After being serenaded with five different songs, (oh just how she wished he _was_ serenading her…okay. Focus, Naminé, focus.) she finally decided to broke the silence. Screw the fact that they were in the library.

"You seem happy today." she said, reaching for an eraser to erase a stray mark on her ellipse graph. Roxas stop in mid-song ("Because you live, and breat--") and grinned at her.

"Yup. Guess why." she rolled her eyes, and turned back to her math problems.

"Is it Kairi-related?" she asked, eyes focused on graphing a parabolic equation, so that he wouldn't see her lip quiver as she let the "K" name roll of her tongue. She knew that Roxas liked Kairi a lot, and even though she was Roxas' best friend, she couldn't help but be sad at the thought that he has dearer affections for someone else other than her.

Really, Naminé, do you have to torture yourself like this?

"Uh-huh. Riku told me he's setting me up on a date with her." he said happily, fingering the case that contained his two keyblades, Oblivion and Oathkeeper (she and Roxas named them when he first got them) that hung behind his chair. She looked up, confused. Riku?

"Setting up only? I thought you asked her yourself." she replied snidely, and he growled at her. "Shut it, Nam. Whenever I try to ask her out, that Rosa kid—"

"Sora." she corrected, taking a ruler to make another Cartesian plane.

"--whatever, always drag her off somewhere else. It's annoying. But this time though Riku has a plan."

"Plan?" her hand froze midway as she reached for a protractor, her face in a frown. She didn't like this. Kairi was her childhood friend. She knew her brother was a lot more strict than an overprotective father, and that's saying something. Roxas took the protractor and handed it to her, thinking that she couldn't reach it.

"Yeah. He told me that he's planning to send her to Radiant Garden if she doesn't stay away from Sora soon." he said offhandly.

"He's blackmailing her!" she hissed. "What kind of brother is that!" she demanded, looking alarmed at the thought.

"I dunno. Me, Cloud and Riku are gonna talk to her about it…." the bell rang suddenly, and Roxas lugged Oblivion and Oathkeeper on his back like a backpack. "…now."

Naminé piled her notebooks in her bag and Roxas took the rest of her books, carrying it. "You got Chemistry next right? I'll tell you the details later. Oh, and let me copy the assignment later, okay?" he walked her to her classroom and handed back her books, giving a cheery wave before disappearing through the crowd. Naminé sighed.

Why? Why does it have to be like this? Will she always be _just _a friend?

Cloud loathed himself. He actually agreed to do this. He can imagine Tifa having a field day with him because of this.

Him and Kairi were talking on the bench she and Sora was sitting on earlier.

When Riku said that both of them will talk to Kairi, it meant that Riku will sit in the sidelines while Cloud will do the talking. At first, when they had approached Kairi, she smiled at them with that radiant smile of hers. When she saw her brother though, she suddenly turned sour, and Cloud really wished that she wouldn't think of starting keyblade handling like her brother. That would be scary.

He still can't believe Riku can be as _heartless_ as this.

But there's no saying what he'll do if Kairi doesn't do his bidding. Riku is, after all, the one taking care of Kairi. He took two jobs and almost dropped school just so he and his sister could live when their parents died. Yet…this is too much. Interfering with your sister's love life?

_Keyblade scholar my foot,_ he thought. _Just be thankful that I can't carry my buster sword to school—_

"Kairi? Well, your answer?" he asked quietly, trying to ignore the sparks that both brother and sister were throwing at each other. "Your brother is only looking after your own welfare—"

Okay, Cloud, where did **that** came from!

"—and Roxas isn't a bad guy."

Cloud, you colossal idiot.

Kairi bit her bottom lip. "So is Sora." she said bitterly. Firm but true.

"Well, yeah, but your brother doesn't actually agree to this. He told me you've been sneaking out and that there's a possibility that you're failing your classes."

Okay, what was up with that? Kairi is one of the top students in school and boyfriend or no boyfriend, she was still excellent in academics. Tifa always told him he was a bad liar. Yeah, he believes that now.

"Why can't he see Sora as I see him?" Kairi asked, frustrated. She was talking about Riku in the third person, as if he wasn't there. That was how bad it was. Cloud bent over so that Kairi would hear him only.

"_What's only missing is a blindfold and we can really call him blind—_Kairi, how about looking at the situation from your brother's point of view instead? He just cares for you." he said hastily, as he saw Riku was looking puzzled as to why he whispered.

"And what happens if I disobey him?" she said, crossing her arms stubbornly.

Cloud heaved a deep sigh. So much for not getting involve into other people's business…he should ask Leon how he does that "Leave me alone" act.

"He'll send you to Radiant Garden." Cloud flinched as Kairi gave a gasp, all the color draining from her face. Swallowing hard, he spoke again.

"He told me to tell you this. You only have until the dance until you reject him." Seeing that Kairi might faint any minute, Cloud leaned in closer.

"_I'm sorry._"

On the other side of the courtyard, two people were not inclined to be so close and friendly. Two Keyblade scholars stood apart, a certain tension in the air between them causing sparks to fly ( not _that_ kind people…sheesh).

"She better just agree with her brother." Roxas smirked, lacing his fingers behind his back and eyeing Kairi's back. "And you should stay away from her. It's for her own good you know." he turned to Sora offhandedly.

Sora summoned up his most powerful glare and promptly returned the action. "Oh wow. Riku already loves you so much! Why don't you have a date with _him_?" he snickered, and Roxas' face turned a vivid shade of red.

"Better shut up, buddy boy. So? Kairi's my sister. I have the right to pick who my sister goes out with, seeing I'm the acting parent now."

Both spiky haired boys turned around to see Riku, arms crossed. It was evident that he just came from the other side where Cloud and Kairi were talking. (Kairi had nailed him more glares than he could count and Cloud had whispered that he should leave.)

"What kind of brother are you!" Sora suddenly blurted out. True, it wasn't the wisest thing to say to your loved one's brother but he couldn't help it. "Why can't you let Kairi pick her own suitors? I'm not gonna do anything that might put her in danger, so why shouldn't I be given a chance to prove myself?"

_Besides, Naminé already has feelings for him,_ Sora thought, but refused to open his mouth. He had swore to Kairi not to divulge information regarding her childhood friend's secret affection for the skater boy. Back in the other side of the yard, Kairi was using the same reason.

"But, what about Naminé?" Kairi asked quietly. Cloud scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Honestly Kairi, I don't know what to do anymore. I've been so busy and—" he froze. Tifa had just came out of her class and had spotted the situation. She came up to them in angry strides and Kairi swore that she saw a storm cloud hovering over the brunette's head.

"You'll have to pick quickly though, Kairi. Either Roxas or Radiant Garden." he said hastily. Hastily, Kairi didn't know why until Tifa had closed in on them.

"Cloud…no, you just did not—" she started, mouth agape, and Cloud bowed his head in shame. Her eyes darted from Cloud, to Riku, then two the two wielders who kept throwing glares at each other.

"We need to talk…NOW!" the last word was spoken with force, and Cloud called out to Roxas and Riku.

Both turned at their heels at Cloud's call, and as they went up to the fuming girl, Tifa pushed Roxas hard to the direction of his next class and dragged Cloud and Riku with her.

Kairi plopped down onto the bench, as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Sora immediately ran up to her, concern etched on his usually goofy face.

"Well, what'd he say?" Sora asked. The girl could only bow down her head and heave a deep sigh.

"Oh hell with it Riku!" she suddenly screamed out, making Sora jump at least 2 feet in the air. "What is this, Athenian times and my brother has to dictate who I have to love!" she suddenly buried her face in her hands in exhaustion. She was tired of it all. How Riku dictated her life far worse than Hitler dictated the Nazi. She liked him better as a brother…not as a father.

Sora's brain racked for a solution, and a light bulb suddenly flickered in his mind. He congratulated himself for coming up with such an excellent idea. But—wait, what if Riku finds out? Ah heck with it, it's about time Kairi got her own freedom.

"Hey Kai, I got an idea." he tapped her shoulder and she looked up wearily at him. "How about staying at my Aunt Edea's house? We can look for another relative that can take care of you, anything that can get you away from your brother's tyranny. She lives at Twilight Town. We can leave tomorrow, and, um, does that sound good?" he asked.

His vision was suddenly blurred by copious amount's of auburn hair as Kairi threw herself at him.

"Sora you're the greatest! Great! But, um, where will we meet?" she asked, getting flustered and excited at the same time, not to mention just hugging him brought life back to her.

Sora scratched the back of his head before clapping his hands together in celebration.

"The cave! You know, that secret place where I met you and Naminé! Let's meet there, then we'll get on a train to Twilight Town." he said, and Kairi nodded quickly.

"Promise, I'll be there." she said breathlessly.

"Whoa, Naminé's coming!" he pointed out. Sure enough, the blonde haired girl was approaching them, the usual sketchpad clutched to her chest, her cheeks slightly flushed. (She had just passed Roxas while he was on his way to his next class and he had asked for the Math homework. When she handed him the notebook, their hands had brushed and Naminé was still savoring the tingling feeling his fingers left on hers.)

Kairi got up to talk to her childhood friend, her sour mood now gone.

"So how's the 'fair Naminé' doing? Still as pretty as ever, especially because of that little blush on you cheeks. So what's up?" she teased as Naminé sat down beside her and Sora. She expected Naminé to be cheered up by this but was surprised when Naminé turned sour in turn and gazed at Kairi, an incredulous look at her face.

"Me? Pretty? Strange….last time I checked Roxas likes your 'type' of pretty! I don't get why even though we look practically like twins, he still notices you." Naminé snapped suddenly at her. When she realized what she just said, she covered her mouth and blushed furiously. Kairi giggled. She brushed a stray strand of hair out of her "twin"'s face and smiled gently, showing she understood.

"Don't hide it Nam. Let it all out. The more I hate him, the more he clings. Seriously Nam, I don't like it at all." she said apologetically.

Naminé bit her bottom lip, and buried her face in Kairi's sleeve. "How can he be so blind?" was the muffled wail, and Sora swore that what part of Naminé's face was now the same color as last year's Valentine's Day dance. Geez.

"Well, that's _his_ damage, not my fault he's like that Nam. So please stop jumping down my throat? I didn't do anything wrong." Kairi pleaded.

"Except be pretty." retorted Naminé, now surfacing from her friend's sleeve, face returned to pale normal color. She gave a laugh then sighed. Kairi placed a comforting arm on her friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry. He won't see me again." she said quietly, and Naminé looked up, scared at what she's hearing from Kairi.

"What do you mean?"

"Me and Sora will be leaving Destiny Islands. Don't look like that Nam, _don't look like that_!" Kairi said hurriedly as she saw her friend turn paler than normal. Amazing how Naminé can switch colors easily like a chameleon. "I had enough of Riku's tyranny. Destiny Islands seem hell like now. Especially if I try to distance myself from Sora." she continued.

"Here Nam. We'll tell you what we're planning." Sora spoke up. "Tonight, we'll leave Destiny Islands."

"You know that cave we used to play in when we were young? You know, on that island?" Kairi asked and Naminé nodded. "Me and Sora will meet there and we'll leave for Twilight Town. I'm going to look for any of our other relatives. Maybe they can take me in." she concluded.

"But, Kairi…what about Riku?" Naminé asked fearfully.

"Well, he can take care of himself. Nam, promise me you won't tell a single soul about this okay?" her auburn haired friend pleaded, and Naminé felt like fainting. Was Kairi effing serious? She could only nod, and Kairi hugged her friend.

"I'll call you. I better get to class. Sora, we can't see each other until tonight okay? " she told Sora hurriedly as she broke of Naminé, who seemed to be still in shock.

"Sure thing. See ya Naminé!" Sora said, immediately directing his feet to his own class. They left, leaving Naminé to fiddle with her sketchpad's pages blankly like a person possessed. She pondered over the situation.

What to do? Kairi _was _her childhood friend. She wanted her to be happy. But, if viewed from the wrong angle, her two friends might look like they were _eloping_.

_No, Naminé, those things only happen in Shakespeare's plays_, she scolded herself silently. She gazed across the grounds, deep in thought (chuckling quietly as Demyx was chased off by a mad Zexion shouting on how _dare_ the former drop his _new_ cellphone in a toilet). Kairi was just going to look for a brand new relative to live with, that's all.

Whew, Riku was gonna have a field day when he finds out about this.

And so will Roxas.

Geez.

Thinking about him made her heart plunge towards her stomach. He'll be heart-broken when he finds out about this. He likes Kairi so much. Crap, scratch heart-broken, he'll be **angry** at **_her_** if she keeps it as a secret from him.

Sighing deeply, she got up, (quite hesitant not to watch how Zexion is now threatening to drop Demyx's ipod in the pond) and went to her own class.

Chapter 2 done! Please, pretty please, just click that little button there……I'd really appreciate it!


	3. Act II Scene 1

**A/N: **Chapter 3! Thank you very much for all the wonderful people who sent their reviews! You're all wonderful! We're on Act II now!

**Disclaimer: **Unless I'm Tetsuya Nomura/Walt Disney in disguise here in I wouldn't own it.

**Act II Scene I – Another Side, another Story**

_Part 1_

Orange hazes streaked the sky across Kingdom High as students stalled around the campus, waiting for friends, doing some last moment projects that have to be passed that day, or watching the SeeDs train under Professor Cid's strict eye.

Particularly one of them, a young freshman that has blonde spiky-hair, yawned and stretched, then picked up a blitzball and started to launch it up in the air, playing with it. His gaze wandered though when a girl came out of the double doors, (one eye amazingly blue, and the other green) and looking like all her energy was spent. Tidus called out to her, catching the blitzball.

"Hey Yuna! What's up? You look a little down." he greeted. Yuna's contrasting eyes lit up, and she made her way to him, dragging what little energy she had.

"Been busy. Oh I shouldn't have joined the Drama Club! Larxene works me off as if I was one of those inexhaustible legendary aeons. If I have to make another prop flower, I swear…" she muttered, and Tidus nodded sympathetically.

"I know. Axel's not letting me slack off as well. Just because he's in his senior year—"

"—and your cousin—" Yuna added slyly, Tidus making a derisive sound.

"—_that_ too, doesn't mean he has to take out his anger on me." he finished.

"Take out his anger? What do you mean?" Yuna asked, tugging at her lone earring. Tidus sniggered.

"He and Larxene got into this fight. Larxene recruited this freshman, um…what was his name…I forgot…anyway, for their play. Axel wants him on the blitzball team though, but Larxene's holding out." Tidus explained, bouncing the blitzball on his knee

repeatedly. Yuna watched him with interest before speaking, remembering earlier that day when Larxene had told off Biggs and Wedge angrily, with a few well thrown kunais of course.

"So that's why she looked so angry. Larxene's really scary when she's mad…." Yuna wandered off, then turned a little more cheerfully to Tidus.

"I wish I was more like you. Playing practical jokes all the time…you can get away from Axel if you wanted to by using one of your well timed jokes." she commented. Tidus laughed and started to bounce the ball on his forehead.

"True. Axel can't deny that his cousin has some good jokes up his sleeve." he said smugly, and Yuna slapped him painfully in the arm, causing him to lose concentration.

"Don't let it get through your head." she laughed, then quickly side-stepped as she saw two figures coming out of the building. "Speak of the devil, here comes Axel…" she whispered. Tidus head spun around, and he nodded in the direction of his cousin's companion.

"And Larxene."

"Come **on **Larx!" Axel whined, and he dodged a kunai as it went whizzing past his head, only to be caught by startled Leon who wasn't listening to a SeeD lecture.

"Shut it Axel. Guys, I want you guys on the park on the double. We better get out of here before I start killing people." Larxene rhymed sarcastically, and the members of the Drama club immediately scurried off, knowing their president's full potential to inflict damage.

"Stop having one of those primadonna moments and listen to me!" Axel said, this time blocking another cleverly shot kunai with his chakram (which he pulled out just in time from his bag), causing the kunai to bounce and land in front of Zell's face, who was doing pushups.

"What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be somewhere drooling on Tifa—oh I forgot, she and Cloud are the official dream couple now aren't they! Now that's why you're coming back here…hoping to be a best man or something in their future wedding?" Larxene's voice was dripped with sarcasm and people were now edging away from the couple as more kunais were drawn from inside her sleeves. Larxene seem to carry an _infinite_ supply.

"What the frickin' hell are you talking about! You yourself have a little crush with emo-kid Cloud over there!" this comment earned him three more kunais and he spun around, dodging them and causing Quistis and Rinoa to squeak and jump in surprise as the weapons lodged themselves in the place where the SeeD's feet should've been moments ago.

"You…bah, forget about it!" Larxene screeched, throwing another kunai that lodged itself in a tree (causing Irvine to freeze in mid-yawn and eye the weapon apprehensively…it _was_ centimeters from his face you know). It was literally almost raining kunais on the grounds.

"Fine, but, _**why**_ are you picking a fight with me!" Axel persisted, following Larxene (putting a two feet distance between him and the girl. Last time Larxene had been on her bad moods, Axel found kunais randomly lodged all over his clothes for three days.) "I'm just asking that you're newly-found actor to be transferred to my blitzball team! He's not a singer Larx, he's a player!" Axel persisted. They really needed to win this year's game, and it would be difficult without Kadaj. He ducked just in time as another kunai met him face on, and it rested happily at the door, where a confused looking Lenne just came out.

"Don't bother!" she spat out. "No way I'm letting go of this one Axel. Besides, Mrs. Jenovah asked me to take care of her son while he's in high school. And knowing you, you'll ruin the poor kid. So buzz off!"

Axel felt his head heating up. He could be very stubborn if he wanted to.

"And how long do you want me to buzz off!" he shouted sarcastically.

Larxene shot him a glare, and Tidus was amazed that Axel's hair didn't really _became_ fire.

"Until the dance. Of course, if you could, oh I don't know, be a bit humbler, you can attend and see how great Kadaj is doing in our play." she shot back icily.

"As if! Kadaj is a male, he can't be for 'the arts'! Give him back! He's on my team, alright! My team! M-Y-T-E-A-M! Got it memorized!" he yelled.

"Screw it!" Larxene huffed off, throwing kunais in random directions, the Drama club keeping six feet away from her.

_Part 2_

Night had befallen and Axel and Tidus were walking on the beach of Destiny Islands, the latter muttering how much he hated his father for making him come with his cousin.

According to Jecht, they can't have Axel burning everything in his path (a feat he had done when his uncle Lexaeus had showed off the red-head's baby pictures off the internet) and they must avoid that at all cost. Tidus wondered if his father hated _him _since he didn't seem to consider that Tidus could be something that is flammable.

As a result, the blonde had walked off a good five feet away from his cousin. Why? The senior was playing with a lighter and muttering darkly. Better safe than sorry, yes?

"Don't think she's getting away from this, oh no, I'll get her…." Axel muttered loudly, and Tidus knew he had to use his voice somehow since he was afraid that it might disappear from lack of use.

"What are you planning to do! I mean Axel, hello, she's your girlfriend!" Tidus ventured, and Axel flashed him a look that meant I-know-what-you're-talking-about-but-I'm-gonna-pretend-I-don't. Oh crap.

"Yo Tidus. Dude, have you ever heard of a paopu fruit?" he asked. Tidus looked at him in shock.

"Hell, Axel, no way I AM SHARING ONE WITH YOU!" Tidus cried, backing off, and Axel hit him sharply on the head.

"Stop acting like an idiot and answer the damn question!"

Tidus sighed and laced his fingers on the back of his head. "When two people share it, their destinies will be intertwined—"

"—where did you learn THAT crap?" Axel cut him off. Tidus arched an eyebrow.

"From Wakka." he said simply, and Axel snorted.

"Right. He probably got that off some ancient book that was written by Hyne or something." smirked Axel, throwing the lighter up in the air and catching it deftly. Tidus wrinkled his nose. Typical Axel to make him feel like he just came from kindergarten.

"Okay genius. What else do you know?" he asked, crossing his arms. Axel made another snide sound and turned to face his cousin, flipping the lighter open so that the flames would cast an eerie light over his face. Hoo boy.

"Whenever someone eats it, they fall into this weird bought of drowsiness. And when they wake up, they fall in love with the first thing they see." he recited, and Tidus snorted this time.

"Since when did_ you_ have an interest for fruits that are substitutes for love-potions? _That _is creepy." Tidus snickered, earning him another rap in the head. Axel glared at him before closing the lighter again.

"Professor Yunalesca assigned it to us for independent study last year. We think she's trying to verify if the thing actually works so that she can share it with Professor Seymour." Axel said, disgust etched on his face at the memory. Ah heck with it, at least they got an A+.

"Professor Seymour? That's just—okay, subject change." Tidus pleaded, scrunching up his face as his imagination came to play. It was immediately replaced by a wicked grin a moment later when he remembered what Axel had been murmuring earlier. "So did it work?"

"No duh! We got an A+ didn't we? In any case, being a practical joker yourself, you probably caught wind of what I'm planning, right?" he said, snickering as they turned toward the town.

"Sure I do." said Tidus, now getting along with the red-head. "Feed Larxene one of those fruits—"

"She'll drop of to beddy-bye immediately, and fall in love with some random thing: I dunno, a moogle, a cactuar—"

"Hold up." Tidus dug his heels on the wood. They were now on the baywalk. he scratched his blonde head confusedly. "It's okay with you if your _sorta_ girlfriend falls in love with something random?" What if Larxene fell in love with someone who's dangerous? Or yet, some_thing_ that's blubbering? His imagination came into play again, and images of Larxene making out with a—yes, thank you for that hit on the head Axel. The sight didn't look too inviting.

"There's a cure for it. I'll just make sure that I get time to talk silver-haired dude to join our team and ditch the drama queens and we're done." Axel said triumphantly. "You up for it?"

Tidus grinned. What the heck. You only lived once in a lifetime.

"I'm in. Now that we're already in the beach, we might as well get one of those fruits. Oh, and we better borrow a camera from Pence. I can't wait to see what Larxene'll fall for." he said leisurely, looking back at the bushes of plants planted along the beach. Surely one of those is the ever infamous paopu tree.

"Cool. You get some. Get extras as well." Axel ordered, and Tidus pouted, stopping.

"What! Why me?" he protested, Axel still walking.

"Coz, I'm older, I'm still in a bad mood, and I can accidentally tell principal Ansem about those oglops you set free in the girls locker—"

"Fine! Wait for me near the town square!" Tidus shouted, stomping off. Axel snickered and started playing with his lighter again.

_Part 3_

_Trust Tidus to take his sweet, sweet time,_ Axel thought impatiently. He had been waiting for nearly thirty minutes now, and if his cousin wouldn't appear, he'd have to have a little talk with Principal Ansem tomorrow. Footsteps suddenly sounded, but not from the direction of the beach. Axel frowned slightly. _At this hour?_

The town square was practically empty, (apart from him of course. But since he's wearing black clothes, he fitted right in with the shadows quite nicely, thank you.) and with the lone street lamp in the center, it was certainly doubtful someone would come here just to have a little walk. Him? He was a man on a mission, so don't ask.

Axel almost jumped as he saw the figure that came from the shadows though. Roxas came out, eyebrows furrowed and keyblades on both hands. He paused, looking around in warily, before snarling. Axel wondered if he should call out to his friend when there were more footsteps. Jeez, doesn't anyone in this town sleep?

Pale feet in blue sandals appeared, and Naminé appeared, resting her hands on her knees and gasping for breath. Axel's red eyebrow shot up. _Weird way to have a date_, he thought. Roxas and Naminé were his friends from waaay back in elementary. He had treated both of them like siblings and kept close bonds with both. He was also one of those few people who knew about Naminé's secret crush with Roxas. (He had caught hold of her sketchpad one time and had seen at least ten…okay, more than half of the whole thing…sketches of Roxas.) A smirk formed across his mouth. Hey, if they were going out, he can now **officially** start taunting both of them with each other. Goodie.

"Nam, stop following me! I told you, just tell me where Sora and Kairi are and go home already! It's already frustrating enough to know that Kairi might be ruining her life all because of that idiot, and now you're being persistent as well!" Roxas roared, hair standing up like a mood indicator. Axel sighed.

So much for all those endless hours of taunting Axel had anticipated.

_I can't help it, dammit!_ Namine thought desperately, face flushed. It was bad that she was chasing Roxas like this, but she had no choice. The moment she had told of Sora and Kairi's plan, the blonde had run off immediately, as if expecting a mass murder will happen or something.

"J-just leave them alone! Kairi deserves to be free from Riku's over protectiveness, and she's better off getting away from this place! Roxas, why can't you just accept the truth that she's gone!" Naminé cried suddenly out, and Axel flinched. now he sincerely wished that Tidus wouldn't come back _yet._ Come on Nam…you can do this.

"I can't Nam! Not when I know I still have a chance! Kairi is special to me!" he spat out, and Axel visibly saw Naminé's face fell. She summoned up another wave of courage and spoke again, voice shaking slightly.

"**You **are the one who's persistent! Why can't you see that Kairi likes Sora, not you!

Why can't you see that there might be other people out there who can care for you!"

Naminé screeched, and Axel hoped Roxas got the major hint.

"Well sorry for those people but I can't share my heart now can I! If you're talking of one among those many drooling fangirls that are stalking me, well they should take a hike! I'm sick of those girls anyway. My heart belongs to Kairi and that's that!" he practically shouted.

Axel was then amazed at how meekly Naminé took the blows. It seems that all those years of teasing her had an effect of her. But he wondered if all _those _years were enough for _this._ Naminé pinched her lips together and held back any emotions that might show in her ocean-blue eyes.

"What if there's _somebody_ out there who loves you? Not a fangirl. Who's willing to do anything for you…to follow you wherever you go…" Naminé faltered, her resolve crumbling.

""The only one important to me right now is Kairi and her welfare. Don't talk about useless things right now Nam, we gotta find her, this is **important**!" Roxas snarled, getting desperate.

"What about what I'm feeling right now! What about me, am I important!" Naminé exploded. Roxas eyes widened, confused. In the shadows, Axel breathed in sharply. Here it comes.

"**Why** are you asking me that?" Roxas asked, his death grip on both keyblades momentarily slacking. Naminé bowed her head for a moment, and when she resurfaced, her eyes were now brimming with tears.

"Because _I love you_ Roxas, **I love you!"** she cried out, tears sliding down her flushed cheeks. "All this time I loved you, even if Kairi was the only one you saw. The more you show how much she means to you, the more I fell for you! That's why I followed you, that's why I kept coming to you! I tried to make heaven of hell when you always talk about her, hoping secretly that there's a place in your heart for me. But—" she broke off, sobs overcoming her own voice.

Roxas stared at her, ashen faced.

_Okay Tidus, you can come out now, _Axel pleaded silently. _Please, just to stop this maddening SILENCE!_

Roxas opened his mouth, reaching out a hand to place on the crying girl's shaking shoulder. "Nam, I—"

Naminé slapped it out of the way though.

"I -I can't take this anymore--" she didn't finish, and lower lip trembling she ran off into the darkness, leaving a very troubled Roxas.

Axel watched as the blonde glanced in different directions, as if looking for a sign in neon lights to tell him what to do next. Apparently spotting none, he cradled his (probably) aching head, groaned in frustration, and raced after the blonde girl.

Axel don't know whether Roxas followed her to apologize, or to see if Naminé would lead him to Kairi and Sora.

Jeez.

Axel came out of the shadows, glum. He hated seeing the young blonde girl cry. After all, he had practically become an older brother for Naminé and Roxas. He flicked his lighter again, staring at the flame. His plan earlier for Larxene resurfaced, and he remembered the paopu fruit again.

"Don't worry angel. Before this week ends, he'll return your feelings. I'll make sure of that." he said out loud. He always called Naminé "angel", inspired from her choice of clothing, her way of smiling, and gentle personality. Roxas didn't know what he's missing, but he will…oh just you wait skater boy. "I'll definitely make sure of that."

Right on cue, Tidus appeared, a paper bag in one hand, and a wooden sword in the other hand. His clothes were slightly ripped, and his face and arms were full of scratches. Axel bore down on him.

"WHAT THE **HELL **TOOK YOU SO FRICKIN' LONG!" Axel roared. Tidus shoved the bag to Axel and inspected his appearance.

"Mr. Loire's moombas thought I was stealing from Mrs. Loire's flower garden! They almost scratched me to death!" Tidus explained, wincing as he remembered the flaming appearances of the creatures. At first glance, he had also thought of Axel as an overly-grown moomba and had tried to keep away.

"How many did you take?" Axel pried the bag open, ignoring Tidus' occasional cries of pain as he fingered his bruises.

"More than half a dozen. They don't expire easily so I guess that's okay?" he said as Axel inspected the star shaped fruit.

"Great. Good thing there are extras. Will put the plan into action tomorrow, but for tonight, I got a mission for you Ty." Axel said, making a mental Post It note in his head to smuggle it into a disguise in Larxene's bag as a dessert.

"What! Oh come on Axel! I'm already tired! Stop being selfish!" he protested, and Axel banged his cousin on the head, causing an increase in cries of pain.

"It's not for me, dolt! It's for someone else!" Axel said, annoyed. Tidus massaged the spot (he swore a lump was gonna form soon) and eyed his cousin. Axel, doing something for someone else?

"For who?"

"For Naminé. And Roxas."

Tidus racked his brain. Naminé and Roxas. The blonde friends of Axel since elementary, apparently. Naminé…girl, pale blonde, blue eyes, white dress, sketchpad. Yup, that was it. Roxas? Umm…boy, spiky dark-blonde hair, blue eyes, skate board. He was starting to see a pattern here.

"Why? What happened to 'em?" he asked. It was rare for Axel to care for someone else.

This was worth listening to. Axel crossed his arms, red eyebrows furrowed, fingering the paopu's leaves.

"Those two are walking around town somewhere . Naminé told Roxas his feelings but Roxas didn't seem to share the same sentiments." Axel explained, his eyelid twitching.

"Ouch. Poor Naminé." was all Tidus could say.

"So, here's what you're gonna do." Axel started, throwing the fruit at Tidus.

"Let me guess. Slip this as dessert for Roxas and make sure that Naminé is the first living thing he'll see?" Tidus asked, juggling the fruit. Axel's matchmaking methods were so predictable.

"Somewhat like that. Do that, and the black mailing is off, plus, I'll hook you up on a date with Yuna once this whole thing is over." Axel threw in the bribe for good measure. Blonde boy grinned at red-head.

"Now you're speaking my language. You sure care for those two huh?" Tidus asked, amazed. Axel nodded. "They're practically my sibs, if you know what I mean. Think I can trust you with that Ty? I gotta drop _this--_" Axel pointed to a paopu fruit "—in Larxene's lunch box."

Tidus held up a thumbs up.

"Don't worry. _**This**_ guy knows what he's doing."

_Exit_

Dun-dun-dun!

There we go. It all starts here.

The SeeD's represent something in my life there: CAT sessions. Lolz, they'll also play a part later on.

Please review….pretty please?

Oh, and for the record, Cloud is NOT emo. Not for me anyway.


	4. Act II Scene II

**A\N: **High school is making me ill. College will KILL me. I can feel it.

**Disclaimer: **Do you know how much Kingdom Hearts cost? And I mean the cost of the rights, the production…in fact, just give me the price of Square-enix and Disney.

**Act II Scene II – Food for Thought**

_Part 1_

Yuna gave a side glance at their club president. The blonde-haired girl was muttering darkly, playing with a kunai. (She had cast the things upon her members several times already, including at Yuna, who had to duck at a cardboard tree they were painting just to avoid it.)

"Whoa, now I'm wondering what she'll do if she's in her 'code red'." Rikku whispered in Yuna's ear, giggling, her arms full of dark red curtain cloth. Yuna shushed her, wondering if the blonde heard when Paine came up to them, arms crossed.

"Better not let her hear that if you don't want to get chewed out. You have no idea how _sadistic_ she can be." Paine muttered. Another kunai flew at their direction and Paine caught it between her fingers, much to the two girls' awe. They turned their attention back to a hyperventilating blonde, who was now screeching at several people. This people were expected to sing at an upcoming play and Larxene was pouring out her anger at the mini-choir.

"Well, I hate to see several of our members get beaten to a pulp. I mean, it's almost mid-night, we're all hungry, and we still have school tomorrow. What do you think guys? Think she'll let us have sleep at least?" Rikku debated quietly, and Paine and Yuna glanced at each other and stared at her oddly as if saying "better you than me". Larxene screamed in frustration again, causing Garnet to hide behind Julia. Ariel and Aurora had pinched their lips together in fright, and Jasmine and Belle kept giving each other dubious looks as if wondering why they even joined here in the first place.

Larxene had kept them there in the park for a long time now, and because of her multiple weapons, no one bothered to ask if they could go home. It was nearing midnight, and everyone was tired, but was afraid to show it for fear of their lives. _No one_ messes with Larxene and her mood swings. NO ONE.

"Wimps. Fine. Rikku to the rescue!" And in spite of the smack that Paine planned to give the hyper multiple-braided girl, she dumped the cloth on Yuna, took the kunai Paine had caught and dodged the red-eyed girl all the same, and happily made her way to Larxene (who was now screeching at Lenne).

Yuna and Paine glanced at each other for the second time that night.

"She's dead." they both groaned.

"Hey Larxy!" Larxene swung around with a death glare and Yuna did a face palm. How could Rikku even bring up that nickname?! Beside her, Paine flipped her cell phone on and started browsing through the numbers in it.

"Want me to call Gippal and tell him that his girlfriend is suicidal?" she asked carelessly.

Before Larxene could do physical harm to Rikku though, the girl bravely held out the kunai.

"Mind letting some of us sleep? We've been here all night and the choir isn't looking too good." she asked innocently. Garnet was still hiding behind Julia, and several of the other members looked like they aged 20 years older.

Larxene glared at her, snatched the pointed weapon, took a deep breath and turned her attention.

"Fine. Just sing me the song for Act II and we'll wrap up." her head ached, and images of Axel in her head made her want to destroy anything within a 500 meter radius. The choir reshuffled to their positions, and Lenne smoothed out the music in front of them, Mulan muttering incoherently about giving up this club and switching to karate.

The song was hypnotic. According to Yuna, it was a hymn used to celebrate the great ones that used to summon legendary beings that controlled different elements. Feh, like Larxene listened to that crap anyway. As long as it sounded good, it goes into the play. She was not using that rocky-choric music that her classmates insisted playing whenever Professor Sephiroth arrived.

"Like I said, it was a weird song. What was it's title again Yunie? The Hymn of the Fayth?" Rikku asked, scratching her head, while Yuna gaped at her and Paine closed her phone. The silver haired girl walked up to her amber-eyed friend then slapped her in the back of the head.

"Ow-ow-ow! What was that for?!" Rikku demanded, and Yuna answered, for Paine had walked dryly away.

"For almost getting us all killed. Really, think before you act!" Yuna cried, dropping back Rikku the cloth she had deposited earlier.

Miraculously, the song seemed to have a calming effect on Larxene. She dismissed the drama club and bid them that they travel in groups, since she won't take excuses if any of them are absent in the morning just because they got mugged.

"Come on, let's get out of here…before she decides to go with us." Paine said, Yuna at her heels and Rikku still complaining on how Paine _always_ bosses them around. "She can handle going home by herself."

Larxene watched as the last of her group mates left. Sighing, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, and started heading back to her house…then suddenly felt like kicking herself physically.

She had forgotten to buy lunch for tomorrow! (She doesn't cook and NO, she will not touch cafeteria food made by that cafeteria lady named Adel…who didn't look like she was even a _lady_ at all.) She glanced at her wristwatch. Now she had to wake up early to buy one.

"Excuse me, ma'am? Would you like to buy some dessert?"

Larxene looked for the source of the voice and saw a feeble hunched woman, holding out a pastry in one hand. The woman's face was hidden behind raggy gray hair, and had several shawls on her shoulders. The pastry she was holding though, looked absolutely delicious.

"Dessert?" Larxene asked skeptically. The woman nodded her head, then took out what seemed like a strawberry filled pastry and offered Larxene a bite. Suspiciously, she took a bite, her grumbling stomach getting the better of her. Hey, not bad.

When she was young, Larxene had thrown the book Snow White out of her window. She didn't believe in all those fairytales back then, and no, she wasn't believing in all those faith, trust, and pixie dust crap. The reason she was president of the drama club was that she loved tragedy. A lot. (She always dreamt of re-enacting a sadist drama…)

Even if in tragedies they poison the food, she couldn't think of why a vendor would poison her own product. Besides, she had no choice.

Think. Old woman who have a perfectly good pastry here, or Adel, whose nails look like they've been…okay, ew Larxene, ew. And no, she wasn't going to start on the soup served by Maleficent, especially with that raven on her shoulder always.

Old woman.

"Okay, I'll take two. How much?" she sighed, reaching for her pocket for money and the woman replied with an inanimate "25 munny each."

"Thank you dearie!" the old woman waved as she left, and Larxene stuffed the meal in her bag.

When she was out of sight though, the old woman removed her disguise, showing a very delighted Axel. Trust his Uncle Xaldin to whip up a meal from a random fruit in less than 10 minutes. He congratulated himself. Not only did he smuggled the fruit to the target, but he also juiced 50 munny out of her.

"Fall in love with someone ugly for me okay?" he snickered, turning on his heels and walking of leisurely.

Part 2

"Best we could do is camp here." Sora pointed out, and Kairi nodded. They both put down their backpacks filled with necessities and looked for a place to lie down. Kairi briefly smiled at the doodles around the cave, stopping her eyes at the most crudely drawn; the one drawn by Sora.

Sora though was busy inspecting the place. After a while, he turned to Kairi, who was looking at her own doodle.

"Well, we should rest here. Tomorrow we better get a train early. Before your brother wakes anyway." Sora shrugged.

"He's a sleepy head anyway. I'll sleep here." She pointed to a part of the cave and Sora nodded.

"I'll be sleeping way over there." He pointed near the entrance of the cave. "Just to be on guard. That way if anyone comes, we'll be forewarned."

Kairi smiled. As Sora turned to leave though she spoke up.

"Sora? Thanks."

Tidus whacked at another mosquito. Number thirteen. Argh. Where the hell are Naminé and Roxas? He didn't even know where he was. Suddenly he heard footsteps and dived at a clump of purple bushes. Someone came into view, but from the dark, he couldn't make out whom.

But what was distinguishable was that the person was male, and that he had a LOAD of spiky-hair.

Spiky hair? Okay, that's Roxas.

Relieved of finally finding his target, Tidus drew back into the plants deeper, then, with all his might, threw the paopu dessert so that it'd shoot into Sora's now open bag. (At which he had self-sacrificingly used the whip cream he was going to use for a prank as a topping to hide the fruit.)

It went it perfectly (duh. Tidus wasn't an ace blitzball player for nothing) and Tidus celebrated silently, turning to leave and hoping for a good night's sleep.

Halfway though he froze. Damn, he still needed to find Naminé! And just when he thought that his job was over. Grumbling, he walked away from the cave. After a few minutes though, he passed a blonde girl in a white dress, heading for the direction he came from.

Whoa, that was easy.

Mission accomplished, Tidus.

Now happy, he hummed his own self-invented theme-song, heading home.

Sora turned sharply around. He swore he just heard something. After several moments of paranoid looking around, he shrugged it off and pulled his bag closer to him, digging its contents. He frowned and pulled out something that is liberally coated with whipped cream, sprinkles and…

Okay, when did he get this? It didn't even have a brand-name.

He opened it from its cup container and gave a slight taste to it. Well, as long as it was edible, fresh and tasty, why not? After about several spoonfuls though, he started to become sleepy. He'd blame it on eating desserts in the middle of the night. As he polished the thing off, he glanced at the deep recess of the cave, where Kairi was slightly hidden. Smiling drunkenly, he muttered "…Night." before slumping off to sleep.

Part 3

Naminé hastily tried to wipe her eyes in the dark. Anytime soon she might've been afraid to go around town in the dead of the night, but right now, all she wanted was to forget.

Forget about what she said earlier.

Dabbing her eyes, she concentrated on her current task at hand. To make sure that Kairi and Sora aren't caught. If needed to, she'll let them sleep in her house.

She bit her bottom lip. That little thing called 'envy' was chipping at her spirit again.

Kairi was lucky that Sora cared for her. Like Roxas would feel the same for her. How many times have Naminé cried over him? It just doesn't seem right. She wiped her cheeks, her eyes still a bit puffy, and rushed to the cave entrance, paying no attention to the doodle she had created of her and a certain blonde skater boy near it.

Her eyes immediately alighted upon Sora, who was sprawled on the ground as if—

No, it can't be.

Naminé ran forward, checking him. She knew Roxas was walking around with Oblivion and Oathkeeper in his hands. Even if a part of her told her there's no way he can…still…

"Sora! Sora! Sora, wake up, please!" she begged, shaking the brunette.

Sora grumbled for a bit, then reluctantly opened his eyes. Naminé's concerned face appeared before him. He sat up abruptly. What was she doing here? And it looked like she was crying too…he never saw her cry before…

Actually, he never saw her eyes this close before…never actually appreciated how pretty they were…how pretty she was…

"Naminé…were you crying?" he asked awed, still too stunned by the realization of how beautiful Naminé had now struck him. Why didn't he notice before? "Did Roxas do this to you?" he suddenly asked, but Naminé bit her bottom lip again in response.

"We can't talk about _that_ right now. You guys need to get out of here, Roxas might discover about this and take you and Kairi to Riku—"

"Roxas?! Where?!" Sora rose up angrily. How dare he make Naminé cry like that! He picked up his keyblade. Roxas would pay for this.

"What?" Naminé looked thoroughly confused now, and Sora turned to he more gently.

"He'll pay for this Naminé. For making you cry. For making my most important person cry…"

Naminé's eyes widened. What?

"Sora, what are you talking about?"

Sora looked grim. He turned to her, eyes set in determination. He couldn't explain it. He never felt so much affection than what he's feeling towards the girl in front of him right now. Why didn't he say it before? Naminé was the only one he ever needed.

"Naminé, I love you."

Naminé blinked. Hold it. Pause. Rewind. Play again. Did Sora just--?

"Wait, Sora. What are you saying? You love Kairi right? Did you hit your head or--?" she asked uncertainly. What was wrong with him? Sora though looked horrified. He dropped his keyblade and grabbed Naminé's hands and clasped them in his own. Now Naminé was scared. What has been the brunette eating?!

"Naminé, I don't love Kairi! I love you, I swear! I don't love Kairi, I only like her as a sister! It's you! Naminé please, listen to me."

Naminé blinked again. Then it hit her. First, understanding filtered in. Then rage.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?!" she demanded angrily. She was starting to understand. Maybe Sora and Kairi heard of how Roxas rejected her. And now they're making fun of her? She shook her hands away from Sora's grasp. "And here I was trying to help!"

She started to stomp off, but Sora lunged for her hand again, desperately, and Naminé's patience burst.

"Sora, isn't it enough that Roxas told me those things?! Now you guys are making fun of me! Why won't you just leave me alone already?!"

As if to make her point clear, she wrenched Sora's grip from her hand and sped off into the darkness, leaving a very upset Sora behind. Sora started to gather up his things, intent to follow her and make her see sense.

_Good thing she didn't see Kairi. Why did I come with Kairi in the first place anyway?! Feh, whatever. I'm not leaving Naminé, not now that Roxas let her go!_

Cheered up with new determination, Sora set off.

_Meanwhile_

"_Sora?"_

_Kairi's voice echoed in the darkness. Where was she? And why is it so dark? _

_Suddenly, something grabbed at her ankles. She screamed and tried to shrug them off, but the feeling crept up her knees…up to her chest. Light neon yellow eyes…sharp claws…a creature she couldn't name reached for her heart…_

"SORA!"

Beads of sweat ran down her forehead, and she could feel her back sweaty. She sat upright, her eyes adjusting to the cave's darkness. What a nightmare. What was that? She shivered visibly, not from the cold. It was a nightmare. Nothing like that could happen in the real world.

Hmm, maybe because she was in this place all alone. Standing up, she made her way to the entrance, wondering if Sora could be bothered. She stared.

He wasn't there.

"Sora? Where are you?"

_Exit. _

I AM SUCH A PROCRASTINATOR.

May King Mickey have mercy on my ass. Review if you can, and yes flames are now welcome. Christmas is coming soon.


	5. Act III Scene I

**A/N: **How long has it been since I updated? Six months? Heh.

**Disclaimer: **If I did, I would have NOT frozen Roxas at the end of the KHII: FM Secret Ending.

**Act III Scene 1 – Tangled **

_Part 1_

"ENERGY!"

Demyx rocked his head back in forth in time with the music, air guitar in his hands. (Psh, as if.) His recently-saved-from-Zexion's-evil-clutches ipod was now being put to good use as he jumped around his room. Oh he was happy. _Way _too happy. Probably had something to do with the band auditions he read in the school posters today. So happy, in fact, that he didn't notice two figures stopping near his door frame and snickering.

"So, think we should get a video of that? For blackmailing purposes?" his Uncle Luxord slurred to a slightly drunken man, hiccupping slightly. The two Uncles of the Turner family have found the secret rum stash of the family, and having Will and Elizabeth out, proceeded to drown thy troubles in alcohol.

"Savvy. Let's go. Idiotic boy, thinking he can keep the rum from me." Jack assented, leading the way to Will and Elizabeth's room just as Demyx broke into the act of slamming his air guitar in the fish tank.

_Part 2_

Okay, he was acting like an idiot now.

Roxas took a deep breath, and then directed his feet towards the bus stop.

Then returned to his position in the bushes. Again. For the eight time that morning. Much to a brunette girl and boy's amusement.

"What do you think he's afraid of, Denzel?" the girl whispered to her companion. The boy shrugged.

"Dunno. Probably some girl he likes. They're all like that in high school. Yuffie told me." Denzel answered back, and the girl's mouth shaped itself into a small 'o'.

Not exactly the answer he was expecting. Roxas groaned, but desisted when the bus arrived, the two children getting in just as a few students from his own school got out. Strange.

No blonde girl.

Okay, now he was scared.

Sure, he might not have felt the _exact _same feelings for his best friend. But. BUT. She's still his best friend. If she was in any jeopardy because of him, he would be screwed.

Plus. Hayner and Zell would kill him if he ever harmed their sister in any way. _Ouch._

He had returned last night late after an uneventful search. Having slept for only 5 hours, his nerves were still shot, and the thought of the cerulean-eyed blonde girl going AWOL… happy thoughts, Roxas. Happy thoughts. It didn't help his feelings that he wasn't able to find Kairi and Sora as well. Kairi was probably out in another town somewhere.

Quick footsteps sounded from a far off direction and Roxas heard a familiar voice.

"No, I'm gonna be late!"

Wait. That was Naminé's voice! A wave of relief washed over Roxas. Good. He was in the act of thinking of what to say when Naminé yelled at someone.

"Sora! Leave me alone, I'm fine!"

So-ra?

Right on cue, a flustered Naminé appeared, wrestling her books away from Sora. But why though?

"Naminé, just let me carry them for you—"

"SORA, that's _enough_! Give them back, I can carry them myself—"

What. The. Hell? Roxas watched slack jawed as the two rushed past him, Naminé looking upset and Sora looking like an overly enthusiastic lapdog.

Wow. Now he can say that he'd really seen everything.

Okay._ Okay. _What's going on? Naminé and Sora, together? Roxas knew that Sora would be somewhere in Twilight Town right now. With Kairi. So, what the heck is he still doing here? With Naminé? And where's Kairi?

Trying to untangle the jumble of neutrons called Roxas' brain, he followed.

_Part 3_

Tidus yawned widely, stretching his arms over his head. _Man_, how many students in Kingdom High lack the necessary eight hours of sleep today? His feet wandered around the corridors, searching for a place where he could take a nap without Axel accidentally stumbling upon him (probably angry and aching to burn him bald).

He stopped when he saw a large throng of students hanging around the auditorium. Curious, he zigzagged through his way until he spotted a familiar brown haired girl.

"Yuna!"

The girl turned around and smiled, but was almost elbowed out by a guy carrying several guitars. (Tidus thought that impressive. Really, one guitar case slung like a backpack, two cases, and one in each hand.)

"Hey! Can you believe this ruckus?" she asked as soon as he was within earshot. Tidus looked around at the crowd.

"What gives?" Yuna shook her head, lone earring swinging. "Auditions. For the band that will be playing in the dance."

"Oh. So, want to grab a bite? You're free now, right?" Tidus asked apprehensively. Yuna gave him an apologetic look just as Rikku and Paine appeared behind her.

"Yunie! Let's go! Larx is gonna kill us if we don't coordinate with the seniors soon!" Rikku yelled.

"Sorry!" she gave a small nod before disappearing, leaving Tidus to muse over things. After all this ruckus was done, Axel's deal should definitely hold up. There was a sudden yell from the doorway of the auditorium. Seifer, disciplinary committee head and assigned peacekeeper of the event, hollered out to the students.

"All right, apart from the students whom I'm going to call out, the rest should scram already!"

Groans greeted this announcement, and Seifer started a roll call of some (unlucky in Tidus' opinion) students. Finding the situation boring, he entered through a side door and saw a rather interesting scene.

"Just put down those props here. Is that everything?" Aladdin asked, massaging his arms as Philip did the same after putting down another box.

"Yeah. Phew. I swear, if it weren't for Aurora, I wouldn't even go near the Drama room." Philip answered, a look of distaste on his face as he and Aladdin left.

"I heard Larxene is a real slave driver…" Aladdin's whisper drifted off as they closed the door, and Tidus jumped out of his hiding place from a giant, Styrofoam figure that looked like a heart shaped moon.

"Right, let's see what we have here." Tidus grinned, his hands roaming the contents of the box. There were several black hooded coats, a stone with a symbol of a thundercloud on it, what he recognized as a Struggle trophy minus the four stones that usually adorned the edges, several coins that had a skull engraved on them (one seemed to even have a bloodstain on it) and a Tonberry costume.

He was on the act of inspecting the Tonberry headgear when the door opened suddenly, and Tidus dived behind a big, weird-looking statue that looked like a shuriken was attached to an end of a heart. (Where did the Drama club get all this weird things anyway? If you asked Tidus, it looked like a giant --)

He would've suddenly screamed if he hadn't thrusted his fist down his throat.

Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an over exaggeration.

From his hiding place, he had a full view of a sleeping Larxene, who was curled up in some curtains. In her hand was what seemed to be a creamy dessert made from yellow fruit. The paopu. Axel really did get it to Larxene.

Red alert went on in Tidus mind. If Larxene wakes up NOW—no, the thought was too scary to think. He scrambled out of his hiding place. Anywhere but there. There was no way he would allow Larxene to fall for _him_.

He froze when several people entered, then finally decided to just hide behind a curtain. Realizing that he still had the smelly Tonberry headgear with him, he cursed under his breath and pinched his nose.

"Is everyone who was called here?" Seifer asked, looking at the list they had supplied him with.

"Yup." said an overly enthusiastic Demyx, evidently happy.

"Let's see then Demyx, you're on electric guitar. Don't mess up." Seifer glared at the blonde, who was completely impervious to it and just smiled cheerfully.

"Sure!"

Seifer rolled his eyes before continuing.

"Rai, you're on drums."

"As usual, ya know?"

Tidus found all of this boring as he stirred a giant bucket of glue in boredom. Wait.

Bucket of glue?

His eyes landed on it, then to the smelly Tornberry costume he still held. And somewhere there, the light bulb of practical joke lighted up in the Blitzball player's head.

Time to liven things up a bit.

"Fuu, bass guitar."

"Affirmative."

Let's see, he thought, a few strokes around the edges…oh let's not forget the under backside, that way, the victim (whoever the poor soul was) would have a _real _hard time getting it off.

"Vaan. You're on violin."

"Pft. As if I could play anything else."

"Shuyin? Piano."

"Gotcha."

Bam. Tidus jumped in surprise, then peeked from his hiding place. Oh this is just getting better. His older brother Shuyin was here. Rubbing his palms in glee, he waited for the right time. This school wasn't that peaceful. Sooner or later, there would be a disturbance—

A roar of a motor suddenly passed the room, and Professor Goofy's shout came from outside the door.

"Jim Hawkins! What did I tell ya about Solar Surfers in the hallway—aiiihohoieeeeee!" Professor's Goofy's voice died out, and Seifer, Fuu and Rai burst out the door.

"HAWKINS! That's the second time you've crossed _the _line!" Seifer bellowed, and Vaan chuckled as a crowd started to gather outside just as a loud crash echoed through the hallways.

"Oh this should be good. Come on!" Zidane said, peeking from the door.

It was now or never. Tidus jumped out of his hiding place, intent to ambush the first blonde sophomore that came into his view.

Only to be faced with almost a handful of blonde sophomores, all who were making for the door. Tidus was seized with a fit of dizziness at all the blonde hair, when there was a noise from the back. He gulped and imagined the Jaws theme playing in his head.

Larxene was awake.

Damn. Bail! BAIL!

"Sorry, pal!" Tidus said with a little bit of hysteria and alarm, slamming the costume onto the nearest unfortunate blonde's head, then bolting for the door.

And the unfortunate blonde was, unfortunately, Demyx.

"What the hell?" Demyx cried, unnoticed by his band mates as he tried to remove the putrid smelling—thing (he had no idea what it was, but he wants it OFF. NOW.) off his head. He pulled at it, but the hairs on the back of his neck protested. From the eye piece, he could see that all of his band mates had left, crowing over as Professor Clarabelle came to the scene with Professor Donald, carrying a stretcher.

"Guys, I NEED HELP!" he shouted, and narrowly missed what looked like a small, yellow knife as it whizzed past him.

"Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep here!" shouted a female blonde, and Demyx visibly gulped. Larxene. He'd heard tales. The Savage Nymph. The Sadist. The Dragon-lady. The Last Person You'll See In Your Life If You Piss Her Off Badly. He fumbled as he tried to remove the thing off his head, slowly edging towards the door.

"S—s-sorry. I—I-I'll just l-leave n-n-n-ow." he stuttered, but was stopped when another kunai landed near his feet.

"Wait." she said stonily, approaching him. Great. Demyx wish his family knew where he'd hidden his Last Will and Testament (it was in the aquarium, in a plastic bag underneath all the rubble.), thinking they'd probably need it.

"Um, y-yeah?" he asked, wishing he had something to protect him now. A helmet? A fire-proof suit? An amulet? O-fuda? A phial of light? Gillyweed? A jar of dirt?!

Larxene placed a finger under his (what he supposed was) chin and stared at him. Demyx prayed that her nails weren't as sharp as he assumed them to be. He was a dead person.

"You're pretty cute."

_He'sdead, he'sdead, he'sdead, he'sdead, he's_—what? He's…cute?

"Er, what?" Demyx opened his eyes (which he had closed in horror) to see Larxene have an expression that can only be summarized by the term…

Lovestruck.

"Are you one of my members?" she asked, almost _flirtatiously_ (Demyx wished he was just hallucinating from fear), and Demyx shook his head hastily. What was he wearing that made Larxene act like this? Was it some kind of practical joke on her part (because he's pretty sure whatever was put on him is indeed a practical joke)?

"N-no, I'm just playing in the band for the dance—"

Larxene didn't seem to be paying attention to his answers as she stared at him, glaze-eyed. Suddenly, Demyx's band mates returned, still amused by the scene they had witnessed. They all froze though when they saw Demyx, then simultaneously burst into fits of laughter.

"What happened to _you_?" Zidane asked breathlessly as Vaan sat down, clutching his stomach in laughter.

Seifer entered shortly after with Fuu and Rai, and the disciplinary committee all lost discipline as they saw Demyx.

"I always thought you looked like a chicken, chicken-wuss! But _this_ takes the cake!" he said, leaning on the wall for support. His laughter died abruptly (and so did everybody else's) when said wall was suddenly filled with half a dozen knifes, the blades chipping the plaster off.

"_Anyone make a wisecrack about his appearance, and you will wish that you should have died a different death." _Larxene hissed in a dangerous tone indicating that she was ready to commit mass murder right then and there, and Demyx took several steps backwards. She shot a glare at a white-faced Seifer, then yelled, causing him to jump in surprise.

"You! End this meeting. As long as the band is complete, that's important! Everyone dismissed!" she shouted, and everyone present dispersed, looking relieved. Her eyes turned back to Demyx, who jumped at how fast her expression can change from horrifying witch-like to innocent lovestruck puppy.

"You know, I can get you a sort of solo-concert or something. If you want." she giggled, not noticing that Tidus had returned to investigate the scene of the crime. He gave a small squeak of surprise. Larxene? Flirty?

Axel told him the fruit works, but he didn't know it was that effective. Add that to the fact that she was completely head over heels in love with a guy that has a Tonberry for a head, and Tidus knew that's totally whacked.

Maybe they were too hasty in this prank.

…

NAH.

_Exit_

ducks I'm a lousy updater! I know! But College is horrible! Anyway, I'll try to update more often now. Gah. I really need to budget my time. Reviews are appreciated. Flames are, well, flames.


	6. Act III Scene II Part I

**A/N: **Faster update, huh? While I'm not toxic at college yet, I might as well make the most of it.

**Disclaimer: **If I did own it, I'd turn it into an anime.

**Act III Scene II Part 1 – Who's With Who Again? **

_Part 1_

Roxas was _not _jealous.

No, he wasn't. When he and Naminé had passed each other by in the corridors, Naminé had given him a cold nod, then clutched her sketchbook to her chest and walked stonily away. No matter what Roxas did, no words came out of his mouth.

Nope, definitely not jealous.

A few seconds later, Sora came running after her. The brunette wielder had glared at him (Roxas even swore that Sora had placed a hand on the hilt of Ultima Weapon as if in half mind to chuck it at him) as he passed, and Roxas had glared equally back.

What made you think Roxas was jealous?

He wrenched his locker open with more force than necessary, and then glared as Sora practically got down on bended knee to let him carry Naminé's books and art supplies. That was a job Roxas _used_ to do.

Nah, he can't feel jealousy. Because she's his best friend.

_Ex-best friend_, reminded a voice behind his head.

He snarled slightly as he took an extra pen from his locker (the other one's end was chewed because of an impossibly difficult question in Algebra…without Naminé to tutor him—wait. STOP IT, Rox.) and he slammed it close. He turned to see Naminé finally giving in to Sora's request in frustration, and Sora grabbing her hands in apparent joy and dragging her towards a class they shared. Together.

Something snapped. (It was either Roxas' patience, his sanity, or the pen he was currently holding.)

"I'M NOT JEALOUS!"

He froze and looked around, looking for the source of the shout, only to meet the stares of everyone in the hallway staring at him. _He _was _the one_ who shouted.

"Don't be so loud about it then, boy." Professor Jack Skellington said, clapping Roxas on the back with a bony hand and giving him a skull-like grin. "Oh, and you should wipe that mess."

As everyone's gaze moved away from him, Roxas glanced at the pen he was holding.

It was broken in half, and ink was pooling around his fist and into the floor.

Gah, he needed to find Kairi.

_Part 2_

Sora hummed slightly as he waited outside the Art classroom. He had stolen a copy of Naminé's schedule so that he can wait for her after her every class. It didn't matter that he skipped a bit of his own classes to do it.

Alright, so he skipped a lot. But who cares anyway?

He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes left. She should be coming out any time now. Across the hall, a door opened and a class got out. Sora watched them leisurely, then suddenly dived behind a trash can as he saw someone come out.

Kairi!

Feeling a bit guilty that he left her last night, he had done his best to avoid her as much as he can. (Nobody said it would be so hard though. It was like espionage with Basilisk snakes…one look and you're done for.)

The door opened and Sora waved to some of the people who got out, looking for a certain blonde. When she didn't come out yet, he heard voices from inside the classroom.

"…remember, Naminé. Tomorrow, I want it up very early as possible."

"I'll do my best Ms. Porter." Naminé's voice responded, and a tall, brown-haired woman came out, carrying a tall pile of finished artwork. She saw Sora, and smiled.

"Oh, hello Sora. Waiting for Naminé?" Ms.Porter asked, shifting the stack of papers she was carrying to a more comfortable position. Behind her, Naminé flinched at the sight of Sora but said nothing.

"Er, yes. Do you need help with those?" he asked, eyeing her predicament, but Ms. Porter smiled courteously back.

"No, Sora. Thanks for offering your services then." Sora nodded as she left, then turned to Naminé.

Only to find her gone.

He glanced around and saw her retreating figure at the other end of the hallway. Sighing, he jogged to follow her.

He couldn't figure out why he hadn't realized how much he cared for Naminé so much. Was it really possible to fall in love with someone overnight?

…in Sora's case, yes is the likely answer.

_Part 3_

Kairi cradled her head in her hands in worry. Sora had disappeared the night before, and having no more reason to stay in the freezing cave, she had sneaked in back to her own house. (That was easy. Riku always slept like a log anyway.)

Riku, thankfully, hadn't noticed her disappearance, and the only problem that was disturbing her was Sora.

She hadn't seen the brunette wielder since morning, and Kairi wondered if something happened to him. She didn't even notice that Naminé had been disappearing since morning as well.

She sat down on one of the garden benches, eyeing the school grounds for tufts of spiky-brown hair.

"Sora, where are you?" she whispered as a slight breeze blew, framing her face with her hair. Across the grounds, another redhead was contemplating.

"Wonder if the prank worked." he mused, eating a light blue green popsicle, then coughing it up almost immediately. _Crap, how can Roxas stand this stuff_, he thought incredulously, staring at the creamy concoction in his hand.

Which brought him to the subject of his two blonde best friends. Last night's scene was definitely a tender subject. If he could just discuss it to one of them…

Right on cue, Tidus came out, looking pale and smelling like mothballs. Axel wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked, using the popsicle he was eating to ward of his cousin. Tidus ignored it and sat remotely down a few good feet away from Axel. "So? How's our match-making project going on?"

Tidus, to Axel's surprise, suddenly burst to laughter, making the pyro think if he had hit his cousin _that _hard the night before.

"All good to go." Tidus smiled, lacing his fingers behind his head. "Larxene fell in love with a guy that has a Tonberry suit super-glued to his head."

As expected, Axel doubled over in laughter and clapped his cousin on the back. "Great! And I take it that _you _were the reason for that ugly little costume?"

"Yup!"

"This is great! So, who's the unlucky guy?" Axel asked breathlessly.

Tidus racked his brain for the name before turning back to the red-head. "Demyx."

He never thought he heard Axel laugh _that _hard.

"You know him?" he asked as Axel almost fell off his seat, but shortly composed himself.

"Yeah. Well, we won't torture poor Dem-dem for long anyway." Axel grinned, then started finishing off his popsicle. "How about Roxas and Naminé?"

"Mission accomplished. It's all good." Tidus assured him. As if the Fates were toying with them, Roxas suddenly came out of the building, and as Axel watched, headed for a beeline straight for Kairi.

"Oh, look. Here he is. He should reject Kairi by now. If he doesn't, it'll give me a reason to decapitate and burn you." Axel joked, anticipating the scene before him. Tidus though was a different matter.

Something was off with Roxas' hairstyle. He remembered it a lot more spikier and weirder and…darker? Wait…

Kairi, upon seeing the blonde boy, jumped immediately to her feet. She walked towards him and grabbed the front of his jacket in panic.

"Where's Sora?" she demanded. Roxas blinked. What?

"I said, where's Sora?" she repeated, and Roxas pried off her hands. So Sora disappeared also last night. Now, he's running around _with_ Naminé and running _away _from Kairi? What was going on? He bit his bottom lip and stared at another direction.

"I don't know." he said stiffly, his anger for Sora rising by the minute. Kairi though wouldn't give up on it. She blocked his view and glared at him.

"Sora isn't the type of person to leave me like that. You or Riku did something. I know it." she said determinedly, and Roxas gritted his teeth.

"I said I don't know! Why do you keep asking me about him? Is he _that _important to you?" he spat, and Kairi slightly stood on her tiptoes to meet his height as she glared him eye-to-eye.

"Yes, he is!" she shouted back, tears already brimming in her eyes. "Give up already! He's the one I care for! Why can't you see that there's another one out there who would care for you!" she screamed.

Roxas' hands balled into fists and he stomped his foot suddenly in frustration. "It's none of your business! I don't know, I don't care, and I'm glad Sora's missing!"

His anger poured out all at once. The feelings he had locked away since it all began. Him. Kairi. Sora. Naminé. He had enough. And he didn't care. At Kairi's words, his heart didn't feel like existing anymore.

Kairi gave him a glare that equaled death, and then rushed off, swiping at her eyes. Roxas snarled, and then threw his skateboard on the ground, pushing off. He didn't care if the Disciplinary Committee caught him anyway.

At the other end of the grounds, Tidus wish he could follow suit. Because Axel had already pulled out his lighter and was playing with it.

"You have ten seconds to explain to me why I shouldn't decapitate and burn you right here, right now. The reason 'I'm your cousin.' isn't valid. Start." he said darkly, and Tidus started on a run-on sentence that will judge whether he's barbecue or not.

_Exit_

Poor Tidus. Hell hath no fury like a pyromaniac scorned. It's shorter compared to my other chapters. Anyway, I'll appreciate it if you review! Flames are allowed, if you feel like it.


	7. Act III Scene II Part II

**A/N: **I didn't know Act III Scene II in the original Shakespearean play is effing long. So, I'm gonna chop that up to four or five pieces.

**Disclaimer: **If I did, I would have made KH into a movie. Not live action, mind you. Animated.

**Act III Scene II Part II – Exceptions? **

_Part 1_

Axel wished he hadn't finished that Sea Salt Ice Cream. Not only did it leave a weird taste in his mouth, it also gave him a headache. Add that to the fact that Tidus had messed up BIG time, and he was ready to set the nearest thing on fire in frustration.

But he didn't do that. Instead, he pinched the bridge of his nose, and after deciphering what he could only describe as one of the longest run-ons sentence that could make the greatest grammar-Nazi cry, he sighed and folded his arms to contemplate.

"Are you Hellen freakin' Keller? How can you NOT distinguish between blonde and brunette?" Axel asked, and Tidus groaned in protest.

"It was dark! Both have spiky-hair! Cut me some slack here!" he whined, and Axel sighed distractedly.

_If you want something done, you have to do it yourself, _he thought.

"Fine! Wait for my text. I'll signal you on what to do to redeem yourself later. Just be prepared." he snarled, rubbing the back of his head in annoyance. As Tidus got up gratefully, Axel crossed his arms in thought, then nodded to himself.

If he hurried, he might be able to sneak in and catch up to History class.

_Part 2_

"Think you were being smart, weren't you Rucksack?" Seifer sneered, and Roxas rolled his eyes.

He was in the Disciplinary committee's office. The Disciplinary committed had caught him while he was skateboarding and now, he was facing the consequence.

Psh. As if he cared right now.

Across him sat Jim Hawkins. When Seifer turned his back on them, Jim gave Roxas a bored look that said "Can you believe this?" and Roxas nodded. The young pony-tailed teen pointed a thumb towards a broken Solar Surfer, and Roxas grinned, jerking his head towards his skateboard. Jim snickered.

Ah, the joys of over speeding in the hallways.

"You won't get away with this so easily." Seifer resumed, and Roxas and Jim went back to pretending they care. The poor guy needed the attention anyway.

"Ultimate punishment, y'know?" Rai said from Seifer's right. Fuu crossed her arms and blew her hair out of her face.

"Major." she said, and that was the cue for Roxas to wonder whether that girl ever spoke an _entire sentence _in her whole life.

"Just because you're a Keyblade scholar doesn't mean we'll go easy on you." Seifer continued, and Roxas actually refrained from laughing. Puh-lease. He could so kick Seifer's ass, even with a Struggle bat for a weapon.

He was spared from the torture of holding in his laughter when his phone rang.

_I've become so numb, I can't feel you there Become so tired, so much more aware_

He could practically feel Seifer's annoyance level rise to maximum level, but Jim seized the distraction by kicking a pedal on his Solar Surfer, sending steam all over the room.

"Thanks, man!" Roxas said, making a mad dash on his skateboard as Jim did the same, laughing. They both bolted for the door as the Disciplinary committee coughed up the steam from behind them.

"GET BACK HERE!"

_Part 3 _

Sighing, Naminé watched as the water drained down the sink, blue eyes trained on the spiraling water.

The only way she could avoid Sora was going into the girls' bathroom. At least Sora couldn't follow her in there. Getting rid of him was harder than she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted when her phone whirred to life.

_Through the wind and the rain She stands hard as a stone In a world that she can't rise above_

Wishing that it wouldn't be Roxas, Sora or Kairi (which just about slices her contact list almost in half in possibilities), she flipped her phone open. The sight of Axel's name made her breathe in relief, and she hurriedly checked his message.

**Ei, Nam. Haven't seen much of u around l8ly. Care to have a chat l8ter? **

Her heart sank lightly. Maybe Axel had already heard from Roxas about what happened. But then again, Axel already knew that from the beginning anyway. Besides, if there was anyone she needed to talk to right now, it would have to be Axel. At least she could use this as a reason to blow Sora off. She started texting back.

**Sure. W8 4 me at the bus stop. Still have sumthing 2 do. Tnx Axel. **

She closed her phone then got out, only to be met with a still persistent Sora, who was evidently been waiting outside the bathroom door.

"Hiya, Nam! I was wondering if we could go home together?" Sora asked directly, getting to the point, and Naminé stared at him. From his overly-spiky hair, signature cheesy grin, to his giant shoes.

"Sora." she said, and Sora looked excited that she was finally initiating conversation with him.

"Yeah?"

"…you live directly across the whole city from me."

Smooth, Sora. _Real smooth._

"Er, that's alright. As long as you go home safely, that's fine with me!" Sora said, trying to save himself. Naminé closed her eyes, then shook her head.

"No. I'm meeting Axel later on. I haven't seen him lately, and I'd really want some time alone with him." she stated, and the bubble of happiness within Sora burst.

"Oh. Okay." he said flatly, obviously disappointed.

Without waiting for Sora to change his mind, Naminé rushed past him, hoping that if Sora still planned to follow her, Axel can readily burninate him.

_Part 4_

Axel tried to look innocent.

Which was hard, since everyone in Kingdom High knew he was _never _innocent.

He stashed several pieces of paper into his bag, making his way towards the gate of the school.

Cute and cuddly, Axel. Cute and cuddly. Psh.

From his bag, Darth Vader's theme started playing and several people who passed him snickered at his ominous ringtone. He grinned before flipping it open, the screen advertising a message from Naminé.

Great, stage one is good to go. Stage two, commencing.

"Axel!" Roxas shouted from his skateboard. He braked in front of the redhead, panting slightly.

"You look like you were in mischief." Axel remarked. A prankster knows when his fellow prankster was out on a spree. Roxas grinned, and then jerked a thumb back at the school building.

"Disciplinary committee is out for my head right now." he said, and Axel clearly knew what that meant.

"Right-o, let's leave." he said breezily, already making his way towards the back of the school. Roxas followed. Whenever there were shady distributions of prank materials or discussions of who to victimize, the usual spot for it all was the back of the school.

Stage two, complete. …that was faster than what Axel expected. Time for stage three.

"So…" Axel started in a tone that sounded like I'm-about-to-say-something-that-might-annoy-or-make-you-feel-uncomfortable-so-brace-yourself to the ears of his friends. Roxas raised an eyebrow as they sat down on several crates.

"What?" Roxas asked artlessly. Axel started rummaging in his bag, before speaking up again.

"I'm not _that _busy not to notice. Why exactly are you and Naminé not on speaking terms?" he asked sensitively, and Roxas stiffened. It seems nothing can get past the great Axel.

Silence pervaded between the two of them as a slight breeze blew past. Roxas looked like a little boy who drew on the wall and knew he was wrong and was being questioned by his parents. After more silence, Axel sighed and placed his palm on his face.

"I knew it." he muttered, and Roxas stared.

"Knew what?" Roxas asked, trying to keep his face emotionless, and failing miserably.

"Naminé told you about her true feelings towards you, right?" Axel asked quietly. Roxas' eyes widened, and then directed themselves to the floor.

"You…you knew?" he stuttered, and Axel nodded mutely next to him.

"Was the first to know, actually. She's been putting up with my teasing for a long time now. I'm not gonna tell you how long though. _You _figure _that _out." Axel said, with a bit of spite in his tone, and Roxas cringed.

"It's just that—" Roxas said, trying to explain the situation, but Axel cut him off.

"Just answer me this question, Roxas. What do you feel about her?" he said seriously. Roxas stared at his friend. The question seemed to float in mid-air, as if waiting for him to jump and grab it. Too bad he was too afraid to seize it.

What _did_ he feel for Naminé?

The question seem to taunt his brain, making it go numb and unable to give an answer.

"She—she's my best friend, Axel. Nothing more than that." he said, trying to keep his voice steady. Axel wasn't giving up without a fight though.

"Are you sure?" he asked, green eyes meeting azure. Roxas gulped.

"Yeah." Roxas replied, this time a little more steadily.

"Are you fucking sure?" Axel asked again, and Roxas almost jumped. Axel never cursed whenever he was around people younger than himself. It could only mean one thing. Axel was pissed off. Royally.

"O-of course I am, Axel. I mean. I like Kairi—" Roxas elaborated, but Axel suddenly gave a loud snarl, gripping his red hair in annoyance.

"Damnit! Who are you convincing?! Me, or yourself?!" Axel shot at him, and Roxas was at loss of words. For the first time since their friendship began, Axel was the one making sense. Axel resumed rummaging his bag again as Roxas felt his mouth go dry.

"I-I…don't know what you mean e-exactly, Axel." he said, licking his lips since they were getting dry. What did he get himself into?

"You know damn well what I mean." Axel huffed. "You care for Kairi, right?"

"Of course I do!" Roxas said immediately, standing up to prove his point.

"You also like Naminé." Axel continued, and Roxas felt his heart race. Not again.

"Yeah, but as a friend." he said, though his voice faltered a bit. Axel turned his eyes towards him again, pocketing something in his jacket.

"So you like both?"

"Yeah. B-but in different ways"

"Alright then. Tell me this." Axel got up as well. He walked up to Roxas and bended a bit so that they were seeing each other eye to eye.

"Who do you feel more strongly for? Kairi as a crush? Or Naminé as a friend?"

The question hit Roxas like a ten wheeler truck. He heard Axel say distantly "Pick one." but was too numb to notice or comprehend anything at the moment. The thought never entered his mind. Was it possible? That he…

He looked at Axel, who was waiting expectantly. After opening and closing his mouth several times, he sighed and looked glumly at the ground.

"I don't know. I really don't know."

_That does it_, Axel thought as his eyebrow twitched.

"Okay, that's it. We're meeting up with Naminé at the bus stop." he said, grabbing his bag and Roxas visibly panicked.

"Wha-what?! B-but Axel--!" he started, looking like he was ready to bolt for a quick escape, but Axel blocked his path.

"We need to get this over with. I didn't want to resort to this, but I have to do this. You're coming with me, conscious or not." Axel said, already having pulled out his two chakrams in preparation. A fight?

_Crap, crap, crap!_Roxas reached for his keyblades hurriedly. As Axel swung a chakram at him, he managed to get out Oblivion and block his attack. Axel swung the other chakram and Roxas blocked it with Oathkeeper. Hah.

Axel snickered though, then twisting his weapons a bit, he managed to disarm Roxas from both his keyblades. Before Roxas could recall them, the red-head already closed the distance between them—

--and shoved something in his mouth.

"Axel, wha…" Roxas eyes closed, and the senior grabbed him before he landed on the ground. Axel turned his attention to some nearby bushes.

"Tidus! Get your ass in here!" he hissed, kicking Roxas' keyblades to the side. Tidus emerged from behind some bushes, and he whistled as he saw the two.

"Man, I wish the battle would've been longer." he said, seizing some of Roxas and Axel's things and weapons and carrying them before taking one of Roxas' arms and hoisting it over his shoulder.

"No, because if that would have happened, I would have lost. Big time. Now move! Remember, to the bus stop." Axel ordered, and the two walked, struggling slightly.

"Damnit, the kid needs to lay off the Sea Salt Ice Cream." Axel grunted, and Tidus muttered something about the weight of _two _keyblades on his back. They crossed the almost empty school grounds, and were actually doing good progress, when someone stopped them.

"Axel!"

Axel cursed under his breath as Riku and Kairi came up to them, the latter being dragged. When Kairi saw Roxas though, her expression turned sourer than it was before. Riku seemed oblivious to his sister's annoyance, and looked at Roxas blankly.

"What happened to him?" he asked. Tidus stuttered for a bit, but Axel cut him off.

"The bastard owed me munny, but wasn't paying. So I thought I'd teach him a lesson." Axel lied quickly. Riku frowned, but Kairi gave what looked like an evil smirk.

"Serves him right." she huffed, and Riku swung around to look at Kairi in disbelief.

It simply wasn't like Kairi to be…well… _mean._

Feeling the relative tension in the air rise by several trouble degrees, Axel motioned Tidus to move (quickly, he might add). Both scurried off, leaving the siblings to their own devices.

A few meters though, they stopped again, courtesy of Tidus. He stared at Axel.

"Axel, if it was a Paopu fruit he ate, aren't we in jeopardy in here if he suddenly wakes up?" he asked nervously.

Axel mentally kicked himself for allowing such a flaw.

"Just proves that you're not as dumb as you look, Ty." he complimented, fishing out some goggles dipped in black paint and putting it on Roxas. "There we go. Right, let's go, shall we? I told Naminé I'd be waiting, not the other way around."

They started off again, with Roxas looking ridiculous in the goggles. They stopped again when Tidus yelled "Freeze!", and then hid behind a tree.

"What's your problem?" Axel snarled, and Tidus pointed discreetly in a direction as several people laughed. Axel blinked.

Someone with a Tonberry for a head was running away quickly, chased by (unmistakably) none other than the president of the Drama club.

"Told ya it was weird." Tidus mumbled as Axel's jaw dropped, watching the scene before him.

They started to move again, but stopped again; this time, because of Axel.

Axel stared at his cousin disbelievingly.

"_Are you humming the Pink Panther theme_?"

Tidus gave a cheesy smile and gave a thumbs up. "It fits what we're doing, right?"

Axel would've smacked him if his hands weren't full.

"Stop it! This isn't a Charlie's Angels movie, you know." he snapped as they continued walking, and Tidus pouted.

They finally reached the bus stop (after a few more spy movie themes courtesy of Tidus, who refused to shut up as long as Axel hadn't hit him yet), and Tidus massaged his aching arms, dropping Axel and Roxas' stuff on the bench.

"Now what do we do?" he asked, and Axel got out of Roxas' basilisk-like line of vision by standing behind him.

"No, what do _you_ do. Go to the Sphere pool, and start warming up with everyone else. Just because we're doing a special mission doesn't mean I'm letting you off the hook." Axel said, resuming his Blitzball Captain mannerism. Tidus groaned before walking away.

It didn't take long before Darth Vader's theme started playing from Axel's phone again, this time advertising a new message from Naminé.

**Sorry Axel! I'm comin rite over. Sora was a pain 2 get rid of. **

…mental note to Axel. Give Tidus more exercises than usual for still screwing up Sora's emotions.

He positioned himself behind Roxas, then took off the goggles. After a few minutes, footsteps sounded off in the distance, and Naminé came into view.

"I'm so sorry I'm late Axel! I just had to—" she stopped when she saw Roxas, and her face paled considerably.

"What happened to him? Is he alright?" she asked, concerned and Axel blanched. He never realized Roxas looked like he was knocked unconscious by a weapon than put to sleep by a love potion—er, fruit.

"Nope, he's fine, Naminé. Like SO!" At the last word, Axel rapped Roxas sharply against the head and the skater boy jolted awake. Not taking any chances, Axel gripped a fistful of Roxas' blonde hair and made sure to steer it in Naminé's direction.

"Ow! What was that—" Roxas paused in his protest to stare at Naminé, whose expression suddenly shifted back to listlessness. Axel counted off. Anytime now, Roxas. Just say the word.

More silence followed, and Axel could see the corner of Roxas' mouth opening and closing.

_You could put it into action anytime now, you know. Really, Naminé won't bite,_ Axel thought. …_I hope._

After a while, Naminé broke off the silence by turning to Axel. She shifted her sketchbook in her hands and looked down at the ground. (Sheesh, the three of them seemed to really do that a lot more often now.)

"Sorry, Axel. I have to go home now. I have homework to do." she said quietly, and Axel felt Roxas made a slight movement beneath him.

_Damnit, kid! What are you waiting for?!_

"Oh. Right. See you then, angel." Axel said disappointedly. Naminé smiled at him but spared not even a glance at Roxas. A bus pulled in and she got inside it, waving to Axel as she boarded. As the bus left, Roxas wrenched himself out of Axel's grip.

"Sorry, Axe. Have to go." he mumbled, taking his skateboard and hoisting his keyblades behind his back again. He didn't wait for a response as he kicked off, leaving Axel disoriented.

WHAT THE HELL?

He grabbed his bag and searched through it, finally fishing out the Paopu and several sheets of paper. The papers were actually a copy of the independent study Axel and his group did before. He had lost his own copy but had stolen this one from Milo Thatch during History. (Hey, he was a part of it too!)

He flipped the pages, finally stopping on a page labeled:

**Exceptions**

Axel smacked himself. Argh, more reading.

_Exit_

So…it didn't work? Haha. You'll find out soon enough. Hey, nobody said I was a nice person.

About their ringtones…Roxas' is Numb by Linkin Park. Naminé's is Concrete Angel by Martina McBride, and Axel's is…well…Darth Vader's theme. :D

Makes you wonder what the others' ringtones are. XD

Again, you know the drill. Reviews are appreciated. Flames are, well, flames. Constructive criticism is still criticism.


	8. Interlude

**A/N: **This wasn't in the original Midsummer Night's Dream, and that's why I made it. That way, people can't say that this is a copy-paste modernized version of Shakespeare's masterpiece. Anyway, here we go.

**Disclaimer: **I don't. I can't even go to Japan or Disneyland.

**Interlude**

"You are so screwed." Hayner muttered over Zell's head, looking at Naminé's painting that his older brother had spilled ketchup on.

"Noooooo! Of all of the things I'd drip ketchup on, why this painting!?" Zell moaned, hurriedly trying to wipe the condiment off the canvass using a tissue.

Arthur rolled his eyes his position from their living room coffee table, and then resumed doing his homework. Unheard to any of them, the door opened and their only sister came in.

"Man, Naminé's heart will break when she sees that Roxas has ketchup for a mustache in her beloved painting." Hayner winced, and Zell swiped a fist at him (which he ducked at the proper moment.)

"Welcome home, Naminé!" Arthur said, greeting his sister, and the two older blonde boys suddenly panicked. (Zell shoving the tissue in his mouth in panic…then promptly spitting it out.)

"Hey. What do you have there?" Naminé said, eyeing her two brothers on the kitchen table (who did their best to hide the painting behind them).

"I-it's nothing, Nam! Really!" Zell said helplessly as Hayner was pushed out of the way by an overly enthusiastic Pluto.

Naminé bent over to pet Pluto before making her way towards the kitchen table. Realizing she'll find out sooner or later anyway, Zell sighed then got out of the way.

"I'm REALLY sorry, Nam." Zell said, scratching his cheek as Naminé's eyes widened at the sight of her ruined artwork. She stared at it for some time. Zell had managed to remove the red mark from the majority of Roxas' face, and it actually looked decent. Hayner prodded Pluto then leaned over to whisper in Zell's ear.

"Told you she'd be heartbroken." he said quietly. To both boys' surprise though, Naminé gave a cold laugh, still staring at the portrait.

"Come on. How can a heart break when I don't even have one to begin with?" she asked stiffly, with a smile that was worse than a flood of tears. Hayner and Zell exchanged alarmed looks, and even Arthur looked up from his homework to gape at his sister.

Weird statements were normal in their household, if anything, courtesy of their Grandpa Merlin. But something weird coming from Naminé? Not to mention that it was even weirder than what their Grandpa Merlin would say.

"Naminé, are you alright?" Hayner asked concernedly, and Naminé gave another laugh, causing Arthur to stand up from his position and wonder if his sister had lost it.

"I'm fine. I need to go upstairs for a bit." she said, and the boys noticed the miniscule droplets of water at the corners of her eyes. Clutching her sketchbook to her chest tightly, she dashed past Zell and ran upstairs, leaving questioning looks in her wake.

Arriving in her room, she threw herself on her bed, burying her face in her pillow. Her white room was blanker than before. Yesterday, in a fit of despair, she had taken down her sketches, cramming them in the lone waste basket at the corner of her desk. Now, there was just white. White, white, and more white. Blank. Empty.

Like herself.

After about an hour of wallowing in sadness, a knock sounded on her door and a cool feminine voice called from outside.

"Naminé? Honey? Can I come in?"

Naminé sat up. Her mother usually came home late. Wiping her eyes, she got up groggily in a more acceptable position and muttered her consent.

Her mother came in, still in her office uniform. Although she was a woman of class, her hair was braided into two, but seem to fit quite nicely. She sat down next to Naminé and draped an arm around her daughter.

"You okay?" she asked gently, and Naminé nodded, not wanting to use her voice. Nothing gets past a mother though.

"Are you sure?" she asked again, and the honesty of her mother's tone, the depression of it all, was too much for Naminé to handle. She hugged her mother and let her tears fall.

Penelo sighed, feeling her office coat go damp. She didn't have trouble with her sons. But a daughter was bit more emotional and a bit more work. She held her daughter for several minutes more, whispering to her to let it all out as she rubbed her back.

Hayner, Zell and Arthur peeked in but Penelo motioned them to keep quiet. After a while, Naminé's sobs died down, and Penelo inhaled deeply.

"I don't know if you're going to tell me or not, but I won't press you to tell me." she said immediately, and Naminé hiccupped slightly. "Still, I want you to know that love is a fickle thing."

Naminé eyes widened, and then looked up at her mother, who smiled. How did she know? Hayner and Zell exchanged looks, and Hayner interrupted.

"If it's a boy, me and Zell could—" he started, but his mother glared at him sharply.

"No fighting, Hayner. Zell." she said strictly, and Zell pouted.

"Mom!" he whined, bleating like a sheep. "Someone made Naminé cry and you don't want us to do anything?"

"No. This is Naminé's life. She's free to deal with it on her own. If she wishes for help, she'll ask you. If not, don't meddle." Penelo said harshly, and the two boys gave up.

"I'm just a nobody, mom." Naminé said suddenly, causing her mother to snap her attention back to her daughter. "Love is overrated. Why did I even believe that someone would love me?" she continued on bitterly.

Penelo took her daughter's face into her hands, and lift it up to meet her gaze.

"You are not a nobody. You are a wonderful person. You're charming, smart, fun, artistic…sometimes things don't go our way in the beginning. So don't go blaming yourself." Naminé listened intently as her mother continued.

"Remember that, Naminé. Move on forward. You have a bright future, and you should not wallow in the past. God will be there. He has other plans for you. It might not be now, but it will come. Love will come a plenty in time."

"No kidding. If you weren't my sister, I would have courted you a long time ago." Hayner spoke up from her doorway, and Zell smacked him at the back of the head. Naminé smiled slightly at her brother's joke, then bowed her head as if deep in thought. Her mother smoothed her hair.

"You feeling better now? Or do you want to be alone?" her mother continued, and Naminé forced a smile on her face.

"No, I'm fine now. Thanks, mom." she said, hugging the woman again. Penelo smiled and returned it.

"Thank Arthur as well. He called me in the office and said you weren't yourself." Penelo laughed lightly, and Naminé's youngest brother smiled meekly from the doorway.

"Thanks, Arthur." Naminé said, extending her arms out to him to hug him. Instead of blanching away like normal little brothers do though, he hugged his sister meekly. Hayner rubbed the back of his head distractedly (Zell had retreated downstairs) before speaking up.

"Do I have to hug you too?" he asked tentatively, and Naminé finally laughed, causing Hayner to grin.

"No, Hayner." she said, smiling for the first time that day. Zell re-entered and upon seeing Naminé, broke into a fresh grin also.

"Hi, sunshine! If you don't mind, you'll have another reason to smile soon!" he announced, and footsteps sounded from the stairs.

"Where's my little princess? Oh dear…" a croaky voice said, and Naminé got up to hug the newcomer.

"Grandpa Merlin!"

"There she is! Oho! Now then, what do we have here, hm? I see puffy red eyes. Ah, but those tears will be gone in a jiffy, just you wait! Now, come, come! Downstairs, quick young lady! I won't have this crying-my-eyes-out-over-some-boy nonsense!" Merlin said cheerfully, and everyone laughed at the old man's babbling, Naminé allowing herself to be dragged back into human company.

"Oh! Just a second." she said. She grabbed her bag and shifted through the contents, pulling out her phone. Although she might not move forward _yet_, like her mother said, she would do the right thing instead.

"Who are you texting?" Hayner asked as Naminé's fingers flew over the keypad. She eyed her brother and answered.

* * *

"Kairi." 

No reply.

Riku sighed, looking over his sister as she sat on the couch while absent-mindedly playing with Figaro. Even dinner was a quiet affair.

…Riku should start learning Morse code. It'd be more useful.

He couldn't understand why she had changed so much in just a short period of time. It was getting on him. It was hard to be a brother and a father to her. All he wanted was to lookout for her safety. Why couldn't she see that?

Simultaneously, both their phones rang.

_I'll face myself…To cross out what I've become…_

_What am I to do with my life… How am I supposed to know what's right?_

Riku ignored Kairi's ringtone (which he remembered was "Simple and Clean" before…) and grabbed his phone, looking at the unknown number broadcasting on his screen.

"Hello?"

"Riku? This is Professor Mickey." Riku sat up straight in his seat. Professor Mickey was one of the most respected teachers in the whole school. Everyone said that even Principal Ansem the Wise seek help from him.

"Sir! What is it?" Riku asked readily, and he heard sounds from the other line as if someone pacing.

"Do you mind going to school early tomorrow? We need to talk. It's about your sister."

Riku bit his bottom lip, then glanced at the redhead, who was staring at her phone (was that disbelief on her face?).

"I'd love to, sir. I really need your help." Riku said wearily, admitting defeat.

"Great! Drop by here about six in the morning, in my office. And we'll talk."

"Alright. Thank you, sir." Riku hung up, feeling a bit of the load on his shoulders go away. As he did, Kairi gathered her things up, leaving a noisy Figaro in the kitchen. As she passed her brother, she gave him a venomous glare. Riku sighed, then stared at the cat.

"Don't tell me you hate me too." he muttered, and Figaro cocked his head.

Upstairs, Kairi closed her bedroom door and gazed at the message Naminé sent her.

**Can u come 2 school tomorrow early? About 6. We need 2 talk. About Sora. There's something weird going on.**

* * *

Definitely weird going on. 

"Oh my God! What happened to you?!" Elizabeth demanded as she saw Demyx enter the kitchen with a giant…thing on his head. Will gaped, the spoon he was holding clattering back to the bowl he was eating out of in his shock. The moment Luxord and Jack saw him though, they both howled with laughter, making ludicrous hand gestures.

"Not my fault." Demyx muttered glumly, sitting down on a kitchen chair as Elizabeth ran off to find a pair of scissors.

"I do believe I've been drinking too much rum." Jack said, and Will glared at him, causing him to change the subject hastily. "What happened, mate?"

"Well, I'm a part of the band now. Next thing I knew, I look like THIS," he jabbed a finger to his face "And a sadistic club president has fallen head over heels for me and I don't even know what to think. Should I be throwing a party now?" Demyx ranted, and Elizabeth returned with a pair of scissors.

"Fell in love? Over what? That thing?" Will asked his nephew, pointing to the ugly headgear, and Demyx nodded glumly. Elizabeth seized his head and started to cut the mask from the nape of his neck.

"As in head over heels?" Luxord asked, shuffling a deck of cards.

"Yeah, as if someone made her eat a Paopu frui—" realization hit Demyx, and he stopped in mid-sentence. A Paopu fruit! Maybe that's why Larxene was like that! His brainstorming session was cut off when Elizabeth cut off a part of the hairs at the back of his neck a little painfully.

"Ow!"

"They're glued rather tightly." she muttered, busy. "I'm not sure if you'll look the same after this."

"Paopu, you say? Mate, maybe you could make this work to your advantage." Jack said, ignoring the looks Will was throwing him.

"What do you mean? I'm in deep, hot water here because of that thing. OW!" Demyx asked, wincing again as Elizabeth sheared off another part with force.

"Nothing beats female specie determination. If that girl is willing to do anything for you, you could ask her anything your heart desires." Jack continued on, and Elizabeth looked up, scowling.

"Demyx, don't take romantic ideas from your Uncle Jack." she said sternly, but the wheels in Demyx head were already turning. His Uncle did have a point.

"If I were you, I'd hang on to that ugly mask for a bit. Well, unless your Aunt shreds it first."

"This would hurt a bit. Brace yourself." Elizabeth finished cutting off the back, and she seized the corners of the mask.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"—cried Captain Hook as the crocodile ate his hand, the clock still in it!" Sora finished his story, and Michael gaped at his older brother. 

"What did he replace it with?" Michael asked breathlessly, and Sora picked up a hanger and put it on his right hand to emphasize the hook he had for a hand.

"Why, a hook of course! What else?" Sora said, standing up on Michael's bed and pretending to be a pirate.

'Oh no, Sora. It was the left hand that had the hook." Wendy corrected as she passed their bed, and Sora shifted the hanger sheepishly to the other hand.

"Wendy, you should be the one doing this." he muttered, and John eyed his older brother critically.

"Are you sure you know what you're talking about?" he asked his brother dubiously, and Sora let bygones be bygones.

"Okay, that's it! Get your medicine from Nana then it's off to bed! Come on, Michael!" Sora bodily lifted his younger brother off and carried him to the waiting nurse-dog. After taking their medicines, Sora tucked his younger brothers into bed, and then went to check on his sister.

"Aren't you a little too old to still be sleeping in the nursery?" Sora asked her as she smoothed her bed sheets. Wendy looked up at her brother, and then cocked her head.

"I suppose. Oh, but Sora, I don't want to grow up yet." she pouted, and Sora tucked her in too.

"Yeah, growing up can be a pain. But it has perks. Like falling in love." he said, smiling down at her. Wendy suddenly sat up, her eyes widening.

"Oh Sora! Have you ever fallen in love? What does it feel like?" she asked dreamily, and Sora laughed before motioning her to lie down again.

"It's hard to explain, Wendy. Maybe when you're older you'll understand."

"Well then. Who is it?" Wendy insisted, and Sora rolled his eyes at his sister's persistence.

"A friend of mine."

"Oh, you mean Kairi! I always thought the two of you look so good together." Wendy said decidedly, causing Sora to flinch.

"Nooooo…" he said firmly, tucking her in again more securely. "It's a girl named Naminé."

Wendy looked at her brother curiously, then decided that she might've mixed the names wrong.

"How far have you gotten with her? Did you tell her yet?" she asked excitedly.

"I did tell her, but she hasn't responded yet." Sora said disappointedly, and Wendy extended a hand out to pat her brother in the cheek comfortingly.

"Don't give up. Peter Pan didn't give up when he was fighting Hook, did he?" she said comfortingly and Sora laughed.

"You're right! But Peter Pan didn't deal with love. Anyway, that's enough, Wendy. Goodnight." Sora said, brushing her hair away from her face.

"Goodnight, Sora."

Sora walked over to the windows, and was about to close it, when Wendy called to him.

"Sora! Leave them open! Peter might come back for his shadow!" she said, and Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Shadow?"

"Yes. I found it this morning. It's in the cabinet. He'll be back for it." Wendy yawned, snuggling back into her sheets. Sora smiled, before tip-toeing to the cabinet and opening a drawer to check on this so-called shadow. Hey, didn't hurt to check, right?

"Sora!" Wendy called out angrily, and he laughed as he closed the drawer.

"Just checking!"

As he closed the door to the nursery, he remembered Wendy's words on not to give up. He smiled to himself. Of course he won't.

It was a good thing he heard that she'll be coming to school early.

It wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

"_Out of 50 respondents, 22 said they like the Zanarkand Abes, while 23 are fans of the Besaid Aurochs. There are 6 who like both the Zanarkand Abes and the Al Bhed Psyches. 21 of those asked said they do not like either the Besaid Aurochs or the Al Bhed Psyches. 11 respondents play Sphere Break, thus, they are not Blitzball fans, while 32 do not like the Al Bhed Psyches. If there are 4 avid Blitzball fans who support all three teams, then how many are supporters of the Al Bhed Psyches ONLY?"_

Roxas stared at the problem. Then scratched his head. Then stared some more.

It was homework night, and as he reread the problem, he was left to wonder on why the hell someone would try to figure out who's a supporter of who.

But then, that's mathematics for you.

He started drawing a Venn diagram, trying to ignore the silence eating at his consciousness. Usually, during Wednesdays like this, Naminé would come to his house and they'd do their homework together. But that was before.

This thought brought up the subject of the artist. Giving up trying to draw a perfect circle (Naminé was the one good at that), Roxas cradled his head in his hands and sighed, staring at the bunch of numbers in his notebook.

What happened? He was fighting with Axel, until the redhead had shoved something in his mouth. (Which reminds him, he's going to kill Axel tomorrow…who knows what that food was.) He briefly remembered tasting something that was a cross-breed of a pineapple, a peach and a mango before passing out. After that, a particularly painful hit had woken him up, and the first thing he saw was _her._

It was the first time that he had seen her up close that day, and add the twilight sky and the wind in her face and the dreamy state he was in, he couldn't help but realize for the first time that she was actually pretty.

Great. He was sounding like a lovesick idiot now.

Groaning, he leaned back on his chair…a bit too much actually, and the chair fell to the floor, bringing him with it.

'Wow. I give that a ten out of ten." said a voice.

Roxas looked up to see his younger sister, Lilo, staring at him. He got up to his feet immediately.

"Lilo! What are you doing here?" he grumbled. Lilo rocked between her heel and toes, looking around his room interestedly. He could tell something was brewing in her mind.

"Stitch entered here. I'm looking for him." she said innocently, and Roxas ruffled his hair in frustration.

"As you can see, he's not here. Now please leave. I'm busy." Roxas said, but Lilo stayed rooted to her spot.

"Where's Naminé? Is she in the bathroom? I want to ask her something." she asked, and Roxas mentally punched himself. If there was one person Lilo could really get along with, it would have to be Naminé. He had once asked her how she got on well with her sister, but Naminé had replied that he was too dense to understand females. He had to admit, she might be right.

"She's not here. NOW can you go?" he told her, prodding her towards the door as his patience became shorter by the second. Lilo dug her heels on the carpet.

"Did you two get in a fight?" she asked, scrutinizing him. Roxas felt his sanity on the verge of being pushed again. Gee, even his little sister could see through him now. Way to go, Rucksack.

"It's none of your business. Now, get out Lilo. I have homework to do." he said, half dragging, half pushing her to the door.

"You fought, didn't you?' she yelled suddenly, and Roxas groaned as he pushed her out with effort.

"Don't you have to listen to Elvis Presley's music or something?" he wailed.

"How can you fight with her like that?! I know Naminé is a nice person. She'll never pick a fight with you. If something happened, it'd be YOUR FAULT!" Lilo's tone was increasing, and Roxas felt that he should channel his strength in another way.

"NANI! Lilo's being a pain!" he yelled, his vocals seeking help. From the kitchen downstairs, a sound of a broomstick hitting the ceiling reached his ears.

"LILO! Leave Roxas and Naminé to their homework!" Nani's voice said, and Roxas felt like banging his head on the wall. Cripes, even Nani thought Naminé was here. Before he could call back, Lilo bit him and he drew back, clutching his hand with small teeth marks.

"Naminé's not here! Roxas fought with her mmph—" Roxas slapped his palm across her mouth, his other hand encircling her waist. With some effort, the blonde carried her kicking and struggling too her own room.

Nani didn't even respond. Roxas made a mental note to avoid the kitchen and Nani's lecture altogether. Depositing Lilo quickly on her bedroom floor, he made a mad dash towards his room, closing it hurriedly.

Through the crack beneath his door, he saw Lilo's shadow cover the light that normally seeped in.

"You're a mean person! You won't get a girlfriend if you're LIKE THAT!" she yelled through the door, and Roxas shouted back.

"Like I CARE!" he lied.

Uh-oh. Roxas quickly grabbed two pillows, then placed them over his ears, already anticipating the unique way Lilo always ended her arguments.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Damnit, why did he have to have a sister who could scream so loud and long?!

As Lilo's voice died out and Nani's voice started yelling, he relaxed slightly, feeling the pressure on his ears disappear. Although he tried to deny it vehemently, Lilo had a point. Naminé wasn't the one who made the mistake. But then, neither did he.

So why was this so effing complicated?

…right. Enough thinking. He still needed to finish his homework.

He replaced his pillows back on the bed, then after up righting his chair, he sat down on it. And the deafening silence started to eat away again at the back of his head.

..or something else started to claw its way at the back of his head.

"Stitch. Get down." he mumbled without looking up, and the sound of the pitter-patter of the blue dog's (was Stitch really a dog anyway?) feet hitting the floor sounded off.

Roxas relaxed slightly. After a while, he felt Stitch clawing up behind him again. He ignored it, and was actually doing a good job, when he felt something wet drip down his hair.

Not again!

Seizing Stitch by the back of his neck, he turned him about face.

"Stitch! What did I tell you about climbing and drooling on my—" Roxas froze when he saw what Stitch was carrying in his paws.

"Nami." Stitch wheezed (barked? Spoke? Really, it was a mystery to their family.). It was picture of Naminé he had taken during their trip to the beach. She was wearing a long, white summer dress and a wide brimmed hat. Roxas had been deciding on what to take picture of with the last shot in his Polaroid camera when he had seen her watching Lilo and Nani surfboarding in a distance. He took her picture, and just as he did a strong wind blew, causing her hair to fly slightly to her face, and for her to hold her hat to keep it from flying. She had seen Roxas, and had smiled just in time, resulting in a very pretty picture of her smiling with her hair and dress blowing in the wind.

Roxas never thought much of that picture, until now.

He took it gently from Stitch, the latter looking at him tamely with his giant black eyes. As he stared at it, he felt emotion stirring in his heart. As he studied and drank every detail, he remembered all those times they had been together in the past. How could he have been so blind not to notice it?

He closed his eyes, remembering that afternoon when he saw her again. For the first time in his life, he felt that when they had met again, his soul was bared for her to see all his wrongdoings, and that any mistake he had ever done to her was something he would never forgive himself for.

But why? Somehow, deep inside him, Roxas knew the answer, but was too afraid to acknowledge it.

"Stitch." he mumbled, eyes closed, and the dog stopped munching on his homework to look up at him.

"Do you really think…I've fallen in love with Naminé?" he asked, more to himself than to the dog. Stitch cocked his head, wagging his tail as he sat on Roxas' math problem. After a while, he bared his teeth.

"Ee." which, in Stitch lingo, means "No duh, you did." or put simply, "Yes".

Roxas' eyes snapped open, and he stared at his dog, who stared back innocently. Suddenly, Roxas burst out laughing, wiping a few drops of salt water from his eyes Picking up Naminé's picture, he set it against his pencil holder, ruffling Stitch's fur afterwards.

"You're the smartest dog anyone can have, you know that?" he said, laughing and Stitch jumped on Roxas face, covering him in slobber. Instead of getting angry though, Roxas plucked the animal off good-naturedly, then grabbed his phone.

He gazed at her smiling face in the photograph as he dialed a number and held the phone to his face.

It's as if he was given a new life.

* * *

"I have the most messed up life ever! Damnit, where did I put that?" Axel moaned as he looked under his even-messier-than-life bed. 

"What are you looking for Axel?" Naminé's voice called from Axel's speaker phone.

"Our independent study paper. I was rereading it earlier, but now it's gone. Gah, where did I misplace that thing…" he mumbled, and Naminé's soft laughter came from the speakers.

"Axel? You? Reading?" she laughed again, and Axel smiled to himself. It was worth losing that paper to make her laugh. But still…

"Yo, Axel! Did you happen to see a brown ball the size of a baseball roll around here?" Axel's older brother, Reno, called from his doorway. Axel stood up suddenly, hitting his head on the bed.

"Ow! NO! Can't you see I'm also missing something?" he snapped, and Reno glared.

"Hey, Reno." Naminé called out, and Reno walked over towards the phone, sitting on Axel's bed.

"Hey, Nam." he said smoothly, and Axel glared at him for sitting on his bed. Reno pointed towards the phone in reply. "Conversing, little bro."

Axel rolled his eyes, then continued throwing around dirty laundry, making Reno dodge a sock as it almost hit him in the face.

"Are they putting up the finishing touches to the school dance tomorrow?" Naminé asked as Axel sneezed on a random dust bunny.

"Affirmative, yo. Heard you were assigned in designing the main sign. Congratulations, Madame!" Reno mocked, and Axel stopped his raiding to eye his brother and the phone.

"Huh? You're a part of the committee?" he asked, before starting on his desk.

"Yes. Ms. Porter asked me during Art class. I have to be there very early."

"About what time, exactly? We need to chat more often. I'll see if I can give ya moral support…" Axel trailed off, almost throwing up at a moldy pizza slice he found in one of the drawers. He threw it at Reno's lap.

"About six in the morning, yo. And DUDE!" Reno threw the pizza back at Axel, lodging itself on his arm. "Don't push your garbage on me!"

Naminé laughed again and Axel disgustedly plucked off the thing and wrapped it in a year old paper about the History of Agrabah. He crumpled it then threw it out of his room.

"AXEL!" his Uncle Xaldin yelled from below, indicating that the trash had received a new victim. No one paid attention though.

"Whoa, that's early. Better get some sleep, Nam. A beauty rest always help." Axel said, inspecting several papers about the difference of Atlantica and Atlantis, before crumpling it up and tossing it into his overflowing trash bin.

"Yeah, you're right. Talk to you tomorrow Axel, and good luck on the raid. Bye Reno."

"Bye, angel." both boys said simultaneously, and a clicking sound indicated that Naminé had hung up.

"Well, if you see that thing, give it to me immediately." Reno said, getting up. He dodged another crumpled paper ball, stepping over Axel's bag in the process.

"Tough luck I'd see it in this dump site, anyway. What is that thing?" Axel asked, inspecting a toy fire truck Larxene had given him during their first monthsary. (He'd never understand the way her mind works.)

"A smoke bomb. It's for SeeD. Don't get ideas, okay?" Reno said sternly, and Axel gave a triumphant cry as he finally unearthed what he was looking for.

Smoothing out the pages, his green eyes studied the pages carefully, looking for the section he had searched for earlier. He stumbled upon the recipe for the antidote, and thinking about Sora and Larxene's predicament, he ripped it off and walked out of his room.

"Uncle Vexen! I need help…" he half sang out, peeking into his dirty-blonde Uncle's room. Or laboratory, for a lack of better term. Vexen frowned but ignored his nephew.

"Go away, Axel. I'm busy. This chemical is a corrosive one. If I wished it, I can pour this on you, and you will be regretting it." Vexen said, eyes trained on the chemicals he was pouring. Ignoring the threat, the redhead continued inside and placed the antidote formula on the desk. His uncle's eyes darted toward it for a second, before returning to its original position.

"Do this for me and I'll buy you a new lab coat." Axel threw the bribing in. He didn't have time to hesitate. He and chemistry go well together like chocolate and laundry soap…it ain't gonna happen. The scientist seem to think for a minute, considering the deal.

"No."

Crap.

"I buy you a lab coat, several test tubes and be your Guinea pig for a month!" Axel said rather desperately. His uncle turned to him grimly, then groaned as he put down the chemicals he was working on and inspecting the recipe.

"Antidote for Paopu fruit effects? Axel, what in sweet darkness' name have you been up to?" he asked, eyes widening.

"So you'll do it?" Axel asked breathlessly, ignoring and not answering the question altogether. Vexen rubbed his temples in annoyance before snarling.

"I swear to whoever created this Universe, Axel. In another dimension out there, you will _murder_ me." he said stiffly.

"Dully noted. Thanks!" Axel said happily as he left, and Vexen cleared his lab tools to start on his commission.

As Axel entered his room, his foot suddenly slipped on something, and he seized the door handle to remain upright.

"What the hell—" he stopped to see a brown ball with a small wick jutting out slightly.

Reno's smoke bomb.

He picked it up, then stashed it in his pocket. It might come in handy later on.

He went back to his still hopelessly messy desk, and was in the act of flipping the pages of the independent study paper to "Exceptions" when his phone played Darth Vader's theme again. He threw a pen at the speaker phone button to activate it without getting up from his position.

"Axel? It's me, Roxas." Roxas voice came out from the speaker and Axel groaned. Great. A reminder of his failure.

"What now?" Axel snapped, not even attempting to hide his irritation as he searched his drawer for an extra pen.

"I was wondering if you know what Naminé's schedule is for tomorrow." he asked hopefully, and the red head stopped in mid search. His eyes darted towards the phone hesitatingly.

"Depends on what you're planning. I may know, or I may not. Why are you asking?" Axel asked quietly, the tone of his voice getting dangerous. If Roxas' only intention was to break Naminé's heart, the first thing in Axel's To Do list tomorrow would be to go to Roxas' house.

And personally smack the skater boy on the face with his own black skateboard.

"I need to tell her something." was the equally quiet reply from the other end. One of Axel's eyebrows raised, and he tried to weight Roxas' words.

They seem honest enough.

"Which would be? It depends if both of us will be delighted by it or not. If you know what I mean." Axel said, and he could almost imagine Roxas swallowing at the other end before speaking.

"It has something to do with today's afternoon talk. I-I think both of you will like it, o-or something like that. B-b-ut I'm actually hoping she'd be h-happier to hear it…" he trailed off and Axel sat up straight on his chair. Wait!

Hold it! You mean that you—" Axel asked breathlessly, almost at the edge of his seat and a sound like someone inhaling deeply came from the other line.

"Y-yeah," Roxas stuttered, and Axel threw his hands in the air in silent celebration. "You were right, Axel. I was just the only one too blind to notice it, and too stupid and scared to admit it. But I won't let that interfere now. Not anymore. I realized what's really important, and…I need to talk to her, Axel! Face to face!" Roxas' tone became more desperate by the minute, and Axel snickered from his position from the desk.

"Whoa, easy, lover boy. You do know that you're sounding like a complete lovesick idiot right now?" Axel smirked and Roxas stuttered from the other end.

"I-I do?"

"Take it easy," Axel said, relaxing on his seat. "Tomorrow she'll be in school early. About six in the morning. She's a part of the special committee designing the dance. Speaking of which, why not ask her out now that you're at it."

Silence from the other end, and Axel knew that Roxas was brewing the idea in his mind.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that. Thanks, Axel!" he said in a happy tone that Axel had only heard now since the past weeks.

"Oh, by the way, Roxas. Axel called out suddenly. Better ask early.

"Yeah?"

"If the two of you do become an official couple, then you should know that I'll have free reign to tease both of you until oblivion?" Axel grinned wickedly, and Roxas laughed from the other end.

"Whatever. Bye Axel!"

"Bye, Romeo."

"What was that?!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

A clicking sound indicated that the blonde had hung up, and Axel chuckled to himself. So the Paopu _did _work.

…still, it would never hurt to check, right? After slogging through blocks of text and paragraphs, he finally found what he was searching for in the independent study paper.

_An exception is to be noted, however. If a subject undergoes Paopu fruit eating, but no visible results are seen at first, it means that the subject __already harbors feelings toward the organism even before it undergone the fruit eating__, but does not acknowledge it in a __conscious level.__ Therefore, it can be deducted that the subject has deep affections already in an __unconscious level__. The Paopu fruit can only assist the subject into realizing his true emotions, __instead of fabricating a __**false**__ love._

A wave of relief washed over Axel. So, it means that what he was dreading in the beginning didn't come true. He had felt rather guilty about making Roxas fall in love with Naminé forcibly instead of the natural way, but he was desperate back then.

Now, the idea seemed to be just plain dumb.

He sighed. One problem, down.

Sora, you're next, buddy boy.

_Exit_

Longest chapter! Think of it as compensation for that short chapter I've written a little while back. Anyway, I challenge everyone who read this fic to answer Roxas' homework.  It's pretty simple, and the fic indicates on what step you should do to simplify the job. And yes, I made Sora and the Darling siblings…well, siblings. Because they'd totally fit each other. Reviews are welcome, and constructive criticisms are as well. Flames are flames.


	9. Act III Scene II Part III

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait. If you were waiting, that is. College has been eating my precious time and I didn't have time to write this.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned it, I would be torturing you with promotional videos of Kingdom Hearts III instead of pre-KH stuff. But, no, I don't own it.

**Act III Scene II Part III – Setting Up the Stage**

_Part 1_

Ah, silence in the morning. Don't you just love it? A reminder of the peacefulness, of the quiet solitude before the stress of the day. Birds singing, no sign of sunlight yet…

And a lab explosion at one of the windows of a rather large apartment building.

Roxas stopped his skateboard, looking up at the smoke pillar rising from the broken window pane. No doubt about it, it looked like Axel's Uncle Vexen was intent on getting into the family habit of setting things on fire. (The primary doers of that deed were brothers Axel and Reno.)

There was a loud roar from above, and Axel came out of the door, the collar of his shirt messy and his hair smelling slightly burnt. He didn't say a word as he got on his motorbike and motioned Roxas to hurry up. From the window above, there was a loud cry.

"AXEL! GET BACK HERE YOU—"

"Go, go, go!" Axel hissed, kicking his motor to life as Roxas pushed off, rolling his eyes.

"Do you really have to make every morning something that can be put on the newspaper headlines?" Roxas demanded as they zipped off.

"Shut up, loverboy." Axel grumbled. "It was for your own good anyway."

Roxas blinked, then stared at his best friend. "Mine?"

As they turned a corner at Disney street, Axel sighed.

"Might as well tell you what's going on. Alright, listen up. And don't make me repeat everything afterwards. I might bite my tongue." Axel said determinedly.

_Part 2_

"Need anything else?" Ashe asked Naminé as she set down the supplies near the young artist. Naminé inspected it before shaking her head.

"No. That'd be all. Thank you, Ashe." Naminé said to her classmate, who nodded and headed for the door.

"Wait! If you see Kairi, would you please tell her to come here?" she called after the girl, who smiled and nodded before leaving. Naminé sighed and stared up at the blank canvas she would be working on. She could work on this and get her mind ready while she waited for Kairi.

Rolling up the long sleeves of her white sweater and tying her hair back (which was slightly hard since some strands of her hair weren't the same length, resulting to a messy bun), she started towards the art supplies when a sound from the gym doors made her look up.

"Kairi?" she asked tentatively, walking towards the gym doors. She had just barely opened it when a grinning Sora bounded in, a bouquet of white roses in hand.

Oh. Crap.

"Good morning, Naminé!" Sora said brightly, totally oblivious that the girl was backing away and looking around for something she might use to knock out…either Sora or herself. Sora, preferably.

"Sora. What are you dong here?!" she finally managed to ground out through gritted teeth, already cursing the Goddess of Fate for screwing her like this. Unbelievably, Sora still remain unphazed even with her anger nearing limit point. What a person.

"Well, I just decided that maybe we could spend some more time together. And what better way to start out than in the morning?" he beamed, causing Naminé to give a slight snarl of frustration. Okay, that's it. No more Miss Nice.

"Sora. Let me tell you this once and for all." she suddenly seized the bouquet of flowers and threw them at the ground to express her emotions. "Leave. Me. Alone!"

Sora blinked, then gave Naminé a disbelieving look. Instead of garnering pity, this increased her aggravation more.

"What you are saying are lies. Lies. Lies. LIES! You don't love me! I don't love you! That's the simple truth of it. I know you're just doing this for a practical joke, hell, maybe for just a bet, but the bottom line is; stop playing with my emotions already!" she ranted, and as she sucked in for a breath, Sora seized the opportunity to cut her off.

"Look, Naminé!" he cried, seizing her hands. She flinched and tried to shake off his grip, failing miserably.

"Listen. I don't know where you got the notion that what I'm feeling for you is fake, (this caused her to suddenly roll her eyes, and he had to shake her hands slightly to get her to look at him again) but it's the truth. I care for you so much, and I'm not stopping until you accept the fact that what I'm feeling for you is real." He said hurriedly, looking nearing desperation.

"Oh, stop it." Naminé hissed, still trying to get away from his grip. "Sora, what has gotten into you?! You care for Kairi! Do I have to spell it out for you?!"

"Kairi means nothing to me!" Sora said heatedly, almost shouting it out.

…that did it.

Naminé stared at him in disbelief, and with a mighty effort, finally broke free. She backed away from him slowly, shaking her head.

Sora…Sora would never say that.

"Who are you and what did you do with the real Sora?" she whispered, and Sora approached her cautiously. "No, stay back! The real Sora wouldn't say that. I know him. What is going on? Sora, listen to yourself. I am not the one you love. Kairi is the one you love!"

She was now thoroughly confused. Just what was going on here?

"No!" Sora shouted out this time, and Naminé backed away a few more steps until her back hit the wall of the gym. But the sudden fear she felt was nothing compared to the coldness that followed after his next words.

"Roxas loves Kairi! He doesn't love you!"

_Part 3_

"THE TWO OF YOU DID WHAT?!" Roxas roared, the words echoing throughout the still silent school grounds of Kingdom High. Axel grimaced at the blonde's sudden outburst, before rubbing the back of his neck distractedly.

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? That's why I'm here to set everything the way it was again!" he protested, but Roxas was already unstrapping his keyblades and looking murderous. "We just need to get the antidote Uncle Vexen made to Sora and everything will be peachy!"

So all this chaos was because of some stupid star-shaped fruit?! Roxas resisted the urge to chuck both Oblivion and Oathkeeper at Axel's apologetic face. He sighed deeply, before pacing, keyblades twirling mechanically in his hands.

"Did you tell Naminé about what happened to Sora?" he demanded, and Axel gave another um-yeah-sorry-about-that look. Roxas groaned, then pointed Oblivion at his best friend's face.

'Stay. Here. I'll go talk to her." he ordered, and Axel nodded enthusiastically. As he stalked off, Roxas refused to give in the desire to start hitting everything with his keyblades (he just kept them with him because it allowed him to vent his anger a bit before facing Naminé). What a mess.

_Memo to me later: Don't get Axel anything for Christmas, _Roxas thought as he stomped towards the gym. He prayed to the high Heavens that Naminé might be in the mood to listen…to the truth and…

His heartbeat pounded faster as his face reddened.

_Come on, Roxas! _

_Part 4_

"What were you doing again here this early?" Riku asked Kairi as she stared at everything except him, the two of them walking towards the gates of Kingdom High.

"I'm meeting Naminé. Why? Is that a crime now?" she asked, this time tearing her eyes away from a rock to glare at him. That shut him up.

She turned her attention to the sky, worry tugging at her heart. Did Naminé really have an explanation to what was going on? Wait. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen her childhood friend recently. Maybe she _did._

"Professor Mickey!" Riku called out next to her, and Kairi snapped back to reality to see Professor Mickey Mouse walking up to them. She eyed her brother cautiously. Talking with one of the greatest Professors in the school? Just what was Riku up to?

"Welp, mornin' Riku. Hello, Kairi." Professor Mickey greeted them, and Kairi found herself smiling in spite of herself. Professor Mickey had that effect on everyone.

"Good morning, sir."

"Kairi, I hope you don't mind, but me and your brother need to talk alone. " Professor Mickey said, and Kairi nodded gamely.

"Um, Mr. Mickey Mouse, sir? Where's Naminé?" she asked hopefully, and the good-natured teacher pointed towards the gym. She nodded and started to walk off. Glancing back towards the direction of her brother, she saw him follow Mr. Mickey inside the school.

Now, to meet Naminé. Herfeet instinctively picked up the pace as she saw the gym loom up ahead. As she approached it, she suddenly froze in her tracks, then dived behind a tree.

What she saw was unmistakably Roxas' figure in front of the gym.

_Part 5_

"Naminé, are you in here?" Roxas burst in through the doors, only to find an apparently shocked blonde artist cornered against a wall and an angry brunette keyblade master.

"R-roxas?" Naminé stuttered, looking like she might faint. "What are you—"

She had barely finished when Roxas suddenly quick-ran towards her, pointing Oblivion at Sora and steadying Oathkeeper protectively in front of her.

"Stay away from her." he said dangerously.

_Exit_

Aaaaaand we'll leave it at that. I wonder when my next one will be? XD

Next chapter will be long, I promise. I just really needed to set it up for the climax.


	10. Act III Scene II Part IV

**A/N: **Whoa, that was fast. In any case, I guess it's a little too late to mention this, but in this AU, the KH characters keep any weapons they have, minus the summoning them in mid-air part. (They carry them around.) They also keep their abilities, and as for elemental powers they do have them, but they are refrained to use them until they graduate High School. Are we good? Okay, let's get this on.

**Disclaimer: **If I did, Kingdom Hearts would have its own area in Disneyland.

**Act III Scene II Part IV – All To Blame?**

_Part 1_

Just. Calm. Down.

Axel paced, eyeing the gym tentatively as he chewed on a piece of gum to calm down his nerves. Was it just him, or was Roxas taking his sweet time in there? Sora could come any minute!

He stopped in his tracks and smacked himself in the forehead, causing some of his fellow seniors to stare at him. He had followed Roxas' advice (more like order) and had stayed behind at the main school building to wait for Sora and try to give the cure to him. All he had to do was to wait.

…maybe waiting wasn't good enough.

In any case, Kingdom High was definitely busier than the average 6 am morning at school. The dance was coming up _fast_ and most of the more responsible seniors (he didn't belong in that category) were either following SeeD orders or running around doing errands. He was thinking of starting to disturb everyone by lighting up Reno's smoke bomb when a certain blonde entered the building.

Crap, it was Larxene.

Before he could dive into a more comfortable hiding place, (such as the unlocked locker next to him) Larxene had walked resolutely up to him, a smirk on her face.

Man, sparks were sure flying between them alright. But it wasn't the good kind. More like the electrical or fire kind. Or the combination of the two.

"Heya. Give up yet? All you have to do is swallow your pride, and we could be in good terms again." he sniggered, keeping his hands free just in case he needed to seize something to shield himself from any kunais that might fly at him.

"And what made you think I'd do that, Axy?" Larxene pouted mockingly, causing the hair at the back of Axel's neck to stand. Damn, he hated that nickname. It was always a surprise to his friends how he and Larxene managed to become an item in the first place (to which he just dismissed and not answer all together). "You know, I could replace you anytime."

With a smile like poisoned honey, she walked away from him, and Axel rolled his eyes. What a threat. He spat out his gum on a piece of paper and threw it at her retreating figure.

"Replace me? Oh, with who? With tonberry-faced Demyx? You wouldn't even find the guy attractive if I didn't put that star shaped fruit in your lunch." he muttered, hoisting his bag and making his way out of the corridor…until two hands grabbed him and pulled him into a Janitor's closet.

"What the hell—" Axel yelled, fingers intuitively grasping a chakram, only to find his face centimeters from what appears to be a blue musical instrument.

"YOU were the one who fed Larxene that Paopu fruit?!" Axel blinked to see a panicky Demyx holding said weapon and looking homicidal. Axel sneered, and loosened his grip from his chakram.

"I did. Enjoying the attention, Dem-dem?" he asked cheekily, causing Demyx to raise his sitar threatingly again.

"Why are you doing this Axel, is it because that I stole your dinosaur toy back in pre-school?! Grow up, for cripes sake--" Demyx seethed on, and Axel rolled his eyes, before smacking the sophomore upside in the head.

"Dumbass! As much as I like to see you suffer, I'm not doing this to torture you, I'm doing this for a different reason. And—what the hell, you were the one who stole my dinosaur?!" Axel explicated, before suddenly glaring at the musician for bringing up the childhood memory. Demyx rubbed the back of his head, wincing in obvious pain.

"Don't do that! It still hurts after that glue refused to come off! Look, I don't care what the reason is, but I want out of this God-forsaken curse, NOW, before I push you into the sea and let you drown!" Demyx shouted angrily, and Axel stuck a finger in his ear in a bored fashion.

"Fine, fine, fine, fine. But look, you're going to have to get in line, because there's another Paopu-poisoned dolt I have to sort out first." Axel said as he opened his lighter. The closet was dark and he didn't like it. Demyx gave a strangled cry before snatching the lighter out of his hand.

"What are you, nuts?! Are you gonna burn us in here?!" Demyx protested, before starting to push Axel out of the closet (throwing the lighter in a nearby trash bin as he did so). The moment they were out on the corridor, Demyx sighed before turning back to the red-head. "Alright, fine. Who's the other victim? Get it over with so I can live my sadist-less life again."

"Sora, your classmate. I'm waiting for him. Wait, where did you put my lighter?" Axel frowned, and then started rummaging inside the closet again. Meanwhile, Demyx scowled, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Hn, that's strange. I saw Sora enter the gym early this morning." He muttered, causing Axel to suddenly whip around in alarm.

"WHAT?!"

_Part 2_

Right now, Naminé wasn't sure to what to believe anymore.

The sheer truth of Sora's words had almost made her fall to her knees. She knew they were true, and that nothing would change that fact.

Yet, Roxas had suddenly barged in, and without a word (to her, at least), had stood protectively in front of her, keyblades in hand. It almost seemed romantic, but for her, it felt like some weird dream she had to wake up from.

Just…just what was going on?!

"R-roxas…" she stammered again, unsure. Did she really wake up at five o' clock this morning, or was she still in bed and Hayner or Zell had somehow jinxed her alarm clock so that it wouldn't sound?

"What are you doing here?" Sora's expression changed from forlornness to sudden anger so fast it was almost scary.

"Stopping you, that's what." Roxas said stonily, and blue eyes met blue in a steady gaze. "Stop harassing Naminé, or I'll make you."

…she was definitely dreaming.

Sora seemed to be thinking the same thing, judging by the way his eyebrow rose. "What, protecting her now? Protect her from what? From someone who loves her? After just casting her aside? And what? You're going to say you suddenly love her now?!"

…no, wait.

Roxas gritted his teeth, but what surprised Naminé and Sora both was that he didn't deny it. Instead, his grip on Oblivion slackened and his head bowed slightly.

This…this was a nightmare.

Both of them…they were just playing with her now.

"Yeah, right!" Sora yelled, and with a quick movement, he whipped out Ultima weapon out. "You love Kairi, didn't you? Fine! I'm giving her up! Just leave Naminé in peace!"

"…stop it." Naminé whimpered, feeling like she wanted to cry.

"You're the one who should shut up! Do you even know what's coming out of your mouth now?!" all thoughts of the Paopu fruit emergency left for a vacation to Hawaii as Roxas felt his rage for Sora increase by the minute. "Look, I know…I've been an idiot…"

He started to falter off, glancing behind him only to see her looking so upset, and this seem to make his resolve stronger.

"But…I'm not going to be one anymore. Because I know what I'm feeling right now. What my feelings are telling me." He whispered softly, more to himself than the people around him, before tightening his grip on both blades. "And it's telling me that I shouldn't allow you to do this."

"Stop it…." she whispered again, placing her hands over her ears, not wanting to hear anymore. How many times did she have to get hurt?! All she wanted was to love and be loved in return!

"Naminé, don't listen to him, he's lying." Sora said, already in combat position.

"Stop it." She whispered yet again, feeling tears already welling up in her eyes. She shut them tight. No, not here.

"Look who's lying! Will you stop pretending, Sora?!" Roxas said, suddenly brandishing both weapons. There was a moment of silence, as both wielders tensed. Then, like an unspoken signal, they both charged at each other simultaneously.

"STOP IT!"

They both froze, only to see Naminé fall to her knees, still covering her ears.

Then the Goddess of Fate decided she wanted more chaos.

"Sora?"

There, silhouetted by the light entering from the gym doors, was Kairi.

_Part 3 _

"Crapcrapcrapcrap…." Axel muttered as he and Demyx rushed towards the gym, the blonde rolling his eyes slightly behind him.

"Okay, I know you screwed up _my _life. Now I'm wondering just how much you've screwed _theirs_." Demyx said, eyeing the building as it loomed into view.

"Hmm, gee, let's think of it this way. At least yours doesn't involve a sappy love-square, keyblades and the need to call in unrequited love support groups." Axel said, voice dripping with sarcasm, and Demyx flinched. Man, that was not a fate he would wish on anybody.

"I hope for their sake, you know what you're doing." Demyx said truthfully.

"Yeah, me too." Axel muttered darkly.

As Demyx reached the double doors first, Axel suddenly pulled him back.

"Wait. I don't want our presence to be noticed. It's a dram-fest in there. Let's take the back door."

After about three different wrong turns, two locked doors, and a broken door with the shape of a chakram on it, they found themselves on the second floor of the gym, looking down on what could only be described as Axel said it. A drama-fest.

"…okay, please tell me we have popcorn." Demyx muttered worriedly as Axel leaned on the railing, eyes surveying the scene before him.

Needless to say, they went unnoticed.

_Part 4_

Kairi brightened up. Sora was here! So, Naminé did have the answer. She ran up to the brunette boy, not noticing Roxas and Naminé in the corner.

"Sora! There you are! I was worried! What happened to you?" Kairi started her barrage of questions until she noticed the brunette still glaring at Roxas, keyblade still poised in readiness. Her eyes traveled from him, to a seething blonde skaterboy, to her childhood friend crumpled on the floor, crying. "Wh-what's going on here? Sora? You left me at the cave and—"

"That's right! You left her! Care to explain?" Roxas said loudly, and Sora gritted his teeth. "Don't you find it weird that after coming with her all the way to the cave you suddenly drop everything and leave?"

"I left because Naminé needed me! After _you_ suddenly dropped her feelings off like that!" Sora yelled, causing Kairi's attention to snap to the said artist, who had straightened up, but with a still distraught air about her.

"Wait! You…." Kairi spoke up, her eyes seeking Sora's, who kept his face away from her. "You left me that night to be with Naminé?" she whispered.

Sora didn't speak for a moment, and Kairi felt uncomfortable. What was he hiding? He opened and closed his mouth several times, before facing her with a fierce determination. "I did."

Kairi felt numb. There must be an explanation. "B-but…w-why…"

"Oh, I see it now!" Naminé suddenly spoke up from her corner, causing four pairs of blue eyes (one was hiding on the second floor) and one pair of green (also on the second floor) to turn towards her.

"All three of you are just making fun of me. And I trusted you, Kairi." Naminé said bitterly, a troubled look on her face.

"What?" Kairi whispered, not comprehending. She approached her childhood friend as she spoke. "Naminé, what are you saying?"

"You told Sora to go around and follow me like a lapdog, just to make fun of me and tell me things like he loved me and all that crap (at these words, said boy started to stutter, gazing back and forth between the two girls). _Then_, Roxas, who hates me and doesn't feel a thing for me (to which the skater boy looked down on the ground but his head shot up in disbelief at her next words), and likes you even when we were still in third grade, you told him to tell me that he cares for me now? Tell he cares for someone he clearly doesn't care about?! The only reason Sora would say that you mean nothing to him is when he gets consent from you! And the only reason Roxas would say he cares for me is that you ordered him too! It's all an act! The real Sora and Roxas would _never_ say those things, meaning this is all an act!" Naminé ranted, and Kairi could tell her friend was becoming hysterical.

"Naminé, I don't even _know_ what you're talking abou—" Kairi started but stopped, her eyes flashing dangerously. "What do you mean Sora said I mean nothing to him?"

"THAT'S IT!" Naminé screamed, her appearance now thoroughly disheveled. Tears were flowing from her eyes as she grabbed her bag and made her way towards the door.

"Naminé, wait! Please, don't go! I can explain! Kairi didn't order me these things, I really _do _care for you!" Sora cried out in desperation as Roxas ran after her, grabbing her by the elbow and calling her by her name. This outburst from the brunette caused Kairi to whip her head at his direction in horror, a weird ache crashing through her heart. Did Sora just…

"Oh, excellent!" Naminé suddenly screeched sarcastically, trying to shake off Roxas' hand on her arm. "Roxas, let me go!"

"Naminé, please, just_ listen_!" Roxas begged, still holding her while trying not to hurt her as Sora and Kairi broke off into some kind of argument.

"I don't want to listen anymore, Roxas!" Naminé screamed, trying to shove him from her, but she found her strength deteriorating. The emotional battle she was fighting was taking everything away from her. She struggled some more and looked up only to see Roxas looking at her with an expression of tenderness and longing.

She almost gave in to his gaze.

Almost.

"Roxas, get away from her!" Sora yelled, rushing at the dual wielder. With a swift move, Roxas pushed Naminé back and parried the attack, the two metals clashing against each other.

_Part 5_

"…and it starts." Demyx muttered, blowing his nose on a handkerchief. Somehow, he was easily touched by all the emotions overflowing down there, and he had started the waterworks.

"You crybaby." Axel mumbled back, but all the same found it more difficult to talk. Naminé was definitely getting the worst of the situation here. This needs to end. Before more hearts unnecessarily break. For the love of baby bubble gum vending machines that run around and let you chase them while they sing "Simple and Clean", WHAT HAD HE DONE?!

"Okay, I'm ending this." Axel said, standing up, but Demyx pulled him down, into the shadows again. "Demyx, what the hell--?"

_CLANG._

Oathkeeper buried itself in the spot Axel was standing on just a nanosecond ago.

"…you should have thought of that before they started chucking keyblades at each other." Demyx whimpered as Axel gaped.

He heard of keyblade fights that cold be _awesome_. But the one he was watching now should be considered _epic _and_ legendary_.

_Exit_

Theeeeeeeere we go. XD Poor Naminé. It's almost over. Hallelujah! Anyway, for those who have read the original Shakespeare version, you should know where we are now. Reviews are very welcome!


	11. Act III Scene II Part V

**A/N: **Dun-dun-dun-dun! Haha. Let's see how long before I finish this story. Anyone wanna place bets? XD It's amazing though. I finally got out of my writing depression. (Probably because I got my own laptop now and it's easier to convince my mom to stay on the computer longer without consuming electricity…thank God for laptop batteries.)

**Disclaimer: **If I did, Kairi would have her own game where she's the main character, and Naminé can wield dual keyblades as well.

**Act III Scene II Part V – Explosion**

_Part 1_

"I hope you understand what I'm saying, Riku." Mickey said seriously as he and the silver-haired boy sat together talking at his table, some of the other staff members starting to enter the faculty room and greeting each other.

"But, sir—oh, thanks…" Riku drifted off as Professor Minnie placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of them, and he smiled at her gratefully before continuing. "I just want what's best for her. I mean, I'm practically the only family she has left—"

"That may be true." Mickey said, taking a sip from his own cup and motioning Riku to help himself, to which the boy gladly did so. "Minnie makes the best chocolate. Anyway, here's something I thought about. You may be her only family, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to face the burden alone."

"I-I don't understand what you mean…sir." Riku confessed, drowning a marshmallow in his drink and watching it sink into the brown liquid.

"You're her brother, Riku. Not her father. You're still young. You don't have to control her life like that. Besides, don't you think that dictating her love life like that is a little bit too much?" the wise teacher continued, and Riku drowned another marshmallow, suddenly feeling the urge to follow it and go drown in a body of liquid somewhere. A full minute of silence followed between them (the faculty room was an entirely different story, seeing that Professor Goof had broken the coffee machine again) before Riku had the courage to talk again.

"I guess…ever since our parents died, I took the responsibility a little too much." He admitted, and the mouse's eyes visibly softened. He gave a shuddering breath before continuing. "It's been hard for me too, but…I want her to still live a comfortable life."

Mickey smiled, before turning in his seat and gesturing for his wife to come over. As Minnie walked away from the other staff members who were debating ("Does anyone know what time Horace will come?"), Riku blinked and stared at his professor questioningly.

"Me and Minnie were talking about something. Gosh, Riku. We were good friends of your parents. And you almost grew up with us, right?" At these words, Riku nodded. He remembered his teacher's astonishingly many nephews. He and Kairi were amazed to find at least a dozen little mouse kids when they were invited to a birthday party before.

"Welp. We were thinking." His teacher continued (raising his voice slightly to be heard above Mr. Goof's yells as the coffee machine gave the klutzy professor a caffeine shower he'll never forget). Mrs. Minnie came over and smiled at Riku, and he felt warmth spread all over his body at the gesture. The couple exchanged knowing glances before facing him again.

"Whaddya say about you and Kairi living with us?"

_Part 2_

Keyblade masters.

Known for their inhumane moves, amazing battle skills and stubbornness. Try pitting one against another, and be prepared to duck for cover.

This was what Kairi, Naminé, Axel and Demyx were actually doing right now.

_CLANG!_

The two boys were almost a blur now as they clashed blades, their movements so quick it was almost invisible.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Roxas muttered, high-jumping on the second floor railing and picking up the Oathkeeper that he had chucked at Sora at the inappropriate time (and that the brunette had easily dodge rolled).

Sora quick-ran towards him, swiping Ultima weapon at his feet. The blonde dodged it, then jumped on to the blade itself and swung Oblivion at his attacker in a vertical slash. The black keyblade nearly missed Sora's hair, and he grunted as he threw Roxas off, aiming a kick in the process. With a grace of a ninja, Roxas jumped off, landing at the opposite railing and spinning both blades in impatience.

The tension had risen so fast in the last few moments during the emotional debate they had earlier, and any form of negative emotion was now being channeled to physical blows. What words? Actions speak louder than words, don't they?

"I usually don't fight people that aren't well armed, Sora, but this time I'll make an exception!" Roxas yelled, vaulting off and charging at Sora again. He threw one keyblade in the air, and as his opponent was held by the momentary distraction, he seized the opportunity and swung Oathkeeper. Caught unawares, Sora had to block the attack with both hands, and for several moments, the two struggled, trying to disarm each other. Eventually, Roxas' strength won and Sora lost his balance, jumping off the second floor and landing with little grace on his feet at the ground below.

"Oh, it's on NOW." Sora gritted his teeth. He pointed his keyblade at Roxas and smirked.

Screw school rules. No one was around anyway.

"Freeze!"

CRAP.

Roxas saw the ice block heading towards him, and he jumped off the railing, cold ice shards pelting him as it hit solid concrete. So Sora was using elements, huh? He gripped both blades in preparation before crossing them in the air. Light crackled between the two metals as he summoned his own magick power. It was forbidden in school rules, but hey, he'd already broken a lot of rules anyway. Besides, Sora was the first one to use it.

"Light!" he yelled.

Light beams showered from mid-air, and he watched with some satisfaction as Sora high jumped and glided to avoid the beams. He quick ran to meet the boy with an attack, but had to cross his keyblades in defense as Sora threw a fire spell at him. Choking slightly at the smoke, he squinted then jumped back as Sora swung Ultima again at him.

His vision was suddenly seized by silver, and he clutched his head, slightly dazed before focusing his powers on the ground at Sora's feet. It burst into rays of light, and Sora backed away.

Damnit, Sora also brought Kingdom Key today!

"You're not the only one who can double wield." Sora smirked, Ultima in left, Kingdom Key on his right hand.

"I hate you." Roxas glowered, before Sora rushed at him again. This time he was ready, and the four blades danced in the air, once or twice finding their intended mark. The blonde spun around, Oathkeeper aimed high, and Sora ducked, but he didn't see Oblivion that was aimed below and he was swept off his feet. He eagerly returned the head blow Sora gave him earlier…with slight interest.

"Thunder!" Sora managed to choke out.

Roxas leapt back as bolts of lightning cackled around him, and Sora got up groggily, muttering something. An image of a blooming flower appeared over his head, and Roxas knew what that meant. Pft, whatever.

He whipped out his hands and light rays shot out horizontally from all directions. _That'd drain him from his magick, _he thought.

"Gather!" came the shout from the center of the light rays.

Roxas felt his body move forward on its own accord, and he knew that Sora wanted to drag him in into his own attack. He dug both blades into the ground, resisting it. Sora suddenly leapt out of nowhere and Roxas clashed his blades against his, light spilling everywhere and crashing into everything.

They broke off and Roxas grunted as he brought down Oblivion and Oathkeeper hard on the ground, causing razor sharp blades of light to shoot from both keyblades and head straight for Sora. The brunette quick ran, and after gaining momentum, started to run up the wall to avoid being sliced by the light beams. Roxas rolled his eyes before following, running towards the opposite wall to gain momentum before leaping from a pile of broken wood and running up the wall altogether.

Surely anyone who was watching would've thought that gravity was taking the day off.

"Ha!" Roxas cried out as he and Sora exchanged blows in mid-air. Friction between the blades caused sparks, and the heat of the battle seem to hold both warriors in mid-air before gravity started to act again.

"Back off!" Sora yelled, suddenly spinning both Ultima and Kingdom Key and delivering a powerful blow at Roxas' overhead, the skaterboy crossing both white and black blades to deflect it. Sora followed it up with a barrage of drumming attacks, causing Roxas to lose control and to land on the ground with a large crash, his keyblades digging themselves in the ground beside him.

"It's over!" Roxas looked up in dazed alarm as Sora landed and rushed at him, both blades intent on pinning the blonde to the ground.

Yeah, right.

Mustering all his strength, Roxas raised his two, sneaker-wearing feet and planted them onto Sora's stomach just as the boy reached him, and with a grunt, kicked the other wielder backwards. In the split second, he reclaimed his keyblades and crossed them once again. Sora regained his balance, before pointing Kingdom Key at the blonde. Light gathered at the end, and Roxas knew what the boy was doing.

Damn keywielders. _Oh, wait_. He _was_ one. Never mind.

"Shield!" Roxas yelled, crossing Oblivion and Oathkeeper before him just as the beam left Sora's blade. It shot towards him, but was blocked by the hexagonal blocks of light that Roxas had surrounded himself with. After a moment, he dismissed the shield, before pointing Oathkeeper upwards and calling the image of the blooming flower onto _himself_ this time. Sora poised again, ready.

"Geez, you're stubborn." Roxas growled, spinning his blades in anticipation again.

"So are you." Sora huffed, brandishing Ultima and Kingdom key with force.

They charged at each other again.

_Part 3_

Physical battle though, was nothing compared to verbal and emotional battle.

Which the two girls were doing right now (from the safe location that is the corner of the gym that connected to the shower rooms. They had tried running out of the gym through the shower rooms but found the door blocked by a lot of equipment they presumed was going to be used for the dance. As for the main entrance and the second floor landings? Don't even try to get there.)

"Naminé, why did Sora suddenly become like this?! What happened that night? Why did he leave me?!" Kairi asked breathlessly, holding Naminé's wrist in a death-grip. The flaxen-haired blonde girl struggled gamely to wrench it away from her childhood friend's hold, succeeding somewhat.

"I told you Kairi! I don't know!" Naminé said tearfully, looking like she might have another breakdown again, and causing Kairi to visibly flinch with guilt. "I didn't do anything to Sora, I never stole him from you, I don't know!! I just don't know!"

At these words, she burst into fresh tears, causing Kairi to hesitatingly place a hand tenderly on the girl's shoulder.

"J-just tell me everything. _Please._" Kairi whispered desperately, and Naminé wiped at her eyes again, taking deep breaths. Kairi waited for her friend to calm down…before they were forced to retreat into the shadows further as light beams started to dance on the Battlefield Formerly Known As The Kingdom High Gymnasium.

"I-I don't know what came over me, b-but I told Roxas about how you and Sora were planning to escape to Twilight Town. Well, you can imagine how he reacted to _that_." Naminé said with a bit of spite in her voice, and both of them cringed as crashes become more eminent from the other side of the barrier they were hiding in. "I had to follow him, and I—at that moment I—I told him my feelings."

An uncomfortable silence followed, and Kairi weighted the words of her friend, almost finally understanding the conflict raging within the young blonde.

_CRASH._

They jumped in surprise at the sudden impact of breaking concrete, and Naminé seem to snap out of her emotional reverie before continuing.

"I couldn't stand the tension so I went ahead to the Secret Place, and found Sora already sprawled on the ground. He saw me crying and I told him about what happened, and that's when he started acting funny. Kairi, I swear that's the truth—" Naminé's frenzied words were cut off when the ground of the gym slightly shuddered, and they both held the wall for balance.

"Are you sure that's all?" Kairi murmured, not liking the situation. Naminé nodded, sobbing slightly.

"Please, trust me, Kairi. I don't know what's happening as much as you do. I hate everything that's happening right now, and I would've left this town if something wasn't holding me back!" Naminé shrieked, looking ready to pull out her hair.

"Hold you back? Who?" Kairi suddenly found herself asking, her heart now sinking terribly into her stomach. From Naminé's words, Sora _did_ seem to have fallen for her childhood friend, and if Naminé, who was just heartbroken, found herself falling for Sora…

Kairi shut her own eyes, praying that the salt water wouldn't flow from them.

She reopened them and saw Naminé looking torn and glancing out of their hiding place. The blonde girl gasped and put up her hands in her face in apparent fear, and Kairi traced the other girl's line of vision. She saw Roxas' figure crashing to the ground, keyblades digging themselves on the ground next to him. Kairi glanced back at her childhood friend and saw the terror and worry etched on her face.

So that was it.

So overwhelmed was Kairi by this chain of events that she didn't say another word for a few moments, turning the facts over her head. Apparently Naminé still likes Roxas. And Kairi obviously still cares for Sora.

But then, the problem still remained unsolved on the boys' side of the equation.

"We need to stop this and set everything right." Kairi said determinedly, causing Naminé to look up at her in surprise. Kairi swallowed. Any hesitation and feeling of betrayal she harbored towards Naminé earlier had now fully disappeared, her doubts being put to rest by Naminé's actions. She held her hand out to Naminé, who hesitated for a bit but took it, and hand in hand, both girls rushed into the battlefield.

_Part 4_

"I am never pissing off Roxas again. _Ever._" Axel said, as Demyx stuttered like an idiot next to him. The light show before them was anything but fake, and Axel was intent on not getting on the bad side of any keyblade master.

"Genius, you better fix this up _fast_ before they kill each other!" Demyx shouted out above the sounds of breaking concrete, clashes of metal against metal, and battle cries. The pyro suddenly rummaged his pocket, searching for something, before smacking his forehead and smacking Demyx upside in the head again.

"Idiot, where did you put my lighter?!" Axel demanded, hands closing in on something round in his pocket. The musician scratched his head before realization dawned upon him.

"Ah, I kinda threw it in the trash bin back there in the Janitor's closet." Demyx confessed quietly, and Axel felt the desire to bang his head against the wall. But he desisted, seeing that there was already a lot of violence going around.

"Well, since no one seem to mind that we're using elements… Demyx, unless you want to go beddy-bye _very early_, I suggest you try to keep yourself awake by any means possible. Holding your breath works." Axel said, pulling out Reno's smoke bomb. Demyx gave something like a strangled squeak at the sight of the little ball, before backing off into the shadows.

_Here goes nothing. Sorry about this guys, _Axel thought.

He threw the bomb high in the ceiling (and miraculously, it went unnoticed) before he drew back and summoned a ball of flame that engulfed his whole right hand. You can imagine how his family reacted when he showed that little talent when he was five years old.

Last night, he had tinkered with his brother's handiwork. Reno liked flashy stuff, but Axel knew how they could be rendered useful (a little something he had inherited from his Uncle Vexen).

A little sleeping powder can go a long way.

Chucking the flame at the small ball, he swallowed the maximum amount of fresh air that his lungs could possibly intake before shutting his eyes.

He briefly saw four pairs of blue eyes glance upwards, before everything flashed into white.

_Exit_

Hell yes, Axel finally moved. Writing that battle scene was a bit fun, I had to admit. :D Anyway, Reviews are _very much appreciated_. It makes me feel like I'm not actually writing random crap and people are interested at what I'm writing, whether they hate it or like it. Til next time then!


	12. Act III Scene II Part VI

**A/N:** I'm on a roll! Yay for laptops making jobs easier! Last part of Act III, thank God! Took that long enough. Drama eats away page space.

**Disclaimer: **If I did, the KH cast would've been featured already in House of Mouse.

**Act III Scene II Part VI – Waking Up From The Dream**

_Part 1_

Miracles seldom happen. For a certain silver-haired boy, everything in his life recently seemed to be nothing but bad fortune. And yet, here was one. Happening in that (noisy, crowded and chaotic, but he didn't care about that right now) faculty room. He gaped open-mouthed at the beaming couple before finally finding his voice and his thoughts.

"Y-you mean…we can stay with you? Be a part of your family?" he whispered breathlessly, heart pounding hard in his ribcage that it almost seemed to suffocate him. Did they really deserve this act of random kindness like that? The two mice though, just exchanged another meaningful look at each other, before smiling at Riku.

Riku could've collapsed on the floor right then and there in joy. Instead, he became so overcame with emotion and had to grasp Mr. Mickey's hand and bow his head to hide the tears that have suddenly sprung up. Both he and his sister had been trying hard to make ends meet in the past, their lives being painful since the day their parents died. They had barely hold on, going from one foster home to another until Riku had decided that they were better off living in their old home.

"We'd love that. T-thank you!" he choked out, and he felt Mrs. Mouse's hand on his back, comforting him.

He had to fix himself up for several minutes before Mr. Mickey joined his wife and they both smiled proudly up at him.

Needless to day, he came out of the office later with a giant smile on his face as he went to the Seniors' lounge.

"Hey! Someone's happy!" Tifa exclaimed and put an arm around Riku the moment he arrived, causing him to shove forward from the force. Damn, Tifa had a strong arm. Instead of reprimanding her that he might have a bleeding nose if she did that again, he grinned.

Nothing could possibly ruin his good mood now. It was like waking up from a nightmare.

"Well, his mood seems better than the others here." Rinoa said massaging her shoulder and gesturing around the room, where SeeDs who had finished training were either groaning or collapsing, and the Dance Committee members were running around in chaos.

"Need help?" Riku asked, feeling in an angelic mood. A groan sounded from another room and Zack and Cloud entered, carrying a giant box.

"Hell yes! I think I'm gonna collapse!" Zack whined while Cloud snorted, smirking slightly. As the silver-haired boy rushed to help, Cid, entered the room, carrying a very large box by himself as he chewed on a toothpick.

"Damn kids. Getting whiny over just a simple machine! Why in my time—" he started, but his nostalgic rant was cut off when Reno, Max and Elena entered the room.

"Hey guys, has anyone seen Prof Cid?" Reno called loudly, and the roomful of seniors pointed to the blonde-toothpick-chewing computer teacher.

"The OTHER Cid." Reno deadpanned, only to be met by more blank stares.

"Which one?" Selphie asked from a corner where she and Aerith were constructing paper flowers.

"…okay, that was a wrong question to ask. Balthier, where's your father?" Reno rephrased his question to the blonde who was currently playing cards with Kenai, Eric, PJ and Reks . A dark shadow passed over the young man's expression before he sighed and pointed upwards.

"Thanks, kid." Reno said, before collapsing in a nearby chair before suddenly yelling and jumping up, obvious pain in his face.

"Oh, burn." Max guffawed, pulling out the pin cushion the red-head had sat on as he laughed and Reno glared.

"Stop that. You're sounding like my annoying little brother." Reno said through gritted teeth, grabbing the pin cushion and chucking it across the room. Which hit a napping Irvine. As he resitted himself, Max and Elena did so on either side of him. .

"How many Cids do we have in this school, anyway?" Quistis asked, coming in and starting to hand out refreshments to the drained SeeDs (all of which gave gratified sounds of joy at her arrival and had started to mob her).

"Hm, there's Chemistry Cid, Balthier's dad…History Cid, Garnet's uncle…Electronics Cid, Rikku and Brother's dad…and SeeD Cid—WHAT?" Zell laughed sheepishly, seeing that people have started snickering at the last Cid's rhyming name, before continuing. "Professor Edea's husband and owner of the local orphanage. Hunh, I think that's them all."

"Well, I'll be damned. And what the hell do you guys call me, Computer Cid, husband of Nurse Shera?!" Professor Cid demanded, causing majority of the soon-to-be-graduates to burst out laughing.

"…who doesn't?" Kuzco said loudly, and the laughter grew louder, causing Cid to throw up his arms in exasperation and exit the room.

"What do you need to see my father for, anyway? You know he doesn't pay attention to anything except his work." Balthier said darkly, causing Reks and Kenai to exchange warning looks.

"I just want to ask for some supplies. The smoke bomb I made for SeeD experimentation purposes went AWOL, and Leon is gonna kill me. No one tells him okay? Even you, Rinoa." Reno said warningly, glaring at the black-haired young woman sitting innocently across the room. "I mean you know how he hates irresponsibility, he monitors us like vulture monitoring his prey, he's bossy, he's a bit annoying, he's kinda emo…"

He drifted off when he saw Rinoa giggling, Riku smirking, Zach ducking behind the silver haired boy with shoulders shaking and Elena and Max suddenly bursting to simultaneous laughter while leaving their seats next to him to stand on the opposite side of the room.

"…and he's standing right behind me, isn't he?" Reno finished slowly, a pained expression already showing on his face.

"Um…duh?" Riku chuckled quietly, causing Zack to suddenly seize his shoulders as he suddenly gave a loud laugh.

"I'll try to ignore everything you just said and instead concentrate on the part where you lost your assignment." Leon, SeeD head commander, said stiffly, causing Reno to absolutely pale up with fear as he turned around slowly to face the cold, blue eyes glaring at him.

"Good idea." Reno said hastily, standing up in alarm and speaking fast as Leon's glare became darker. "See, I really made this really good project, but somehow, I dunno, it disappeared, and now I'm remaking it, yo."

"Your bastard of a brother must've taken it." Elena muttered, causing Reno to roll his eyes at the girl.

"Yo, your sister isn't so saintly as well." Reno snapped. He usually didn't defend Axel, but sometimes, a brother had to do what a brother has to do. Besides, ruffling Elena's feathers always make him feel good. "I heard she's been in love with someone that has a Tonberry for a head."

"Just how good is _this_ project?" Leon suddenly halted the impending verbal battle, and Reno spun around to face him (not before sticking his tongue out at Elena for a brief moment, the blonde throwing him her filthiest look in retaliation).

"Well, by combining some Blazing Crystals, Energy Crystals and a LOT of Bright Crystals and a single Orichalcum, I manage to balance the synthetic value of all materials to develop a secure, yet effectual explosive—"

"In English! You're sounding like your Uncle Vexen!" Max yelled suddenly, causing Reno to splutter and throw the boy a glare before continuing.

"Oh well. It explodes, no one gets hurt, but it's good for distraction." Reno deadpanned to a finish, earning a sarcastic slow clap from Irvine. Leon raised an eyebrow, sighed, and smacked his forehead with his palm.

"It would've been useful for our developmental research. But you just had to lose it, didn't you?" Leon muttered, crossing his arms and staring at Reno knowingly.

"Hey, Reno. If that thing is lighted up in, say, inside a building, does it give of a very bright light?" Irvine said lazily from the window.

"Yeah, exactly like that! How did you know?" Reno asked, turning to the faux cowboy who had his back towards the red-head.

"So…just like what's happening to the gym right now?" Irvine pointed outside. At least half of the room suddenly ran up, including Reno, and he gave a triumphant cry.

"See! Told ya it was amazing!" he yelled as the watched light beams emit from the spaces near the gym's roof.

A few moments of silence passed before everyone suddenly burst into loud strings of cursing.

"Naminé!"

"Kairi!"

Riku and Zell's simultaneous yells of alarm over their siblings being in the building immediately alerted everyone that it wasn't a good thing.

"Code 13-14! Everyone get in there!" Leon yelled loudly as SeeDs suddenly got on their feet, rushing out the door with Zell and Riku leading the way.

"Reno, when this is over, I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Zell hollered as he and Riku led the mob of seniors sprinting along the corridors, everyone trying to get there as fast as possible.

_Part 2_

Hazy smoke covered his vision, making the scene go blurry. With a grunt, he summoned another fireball, the flame slightly lighting up his way. Damnit, what did Reno put in that thing? Axel felt his eyelids droop slightly, and he held his fire-free hand over his nose. Just as he felt blackness tugging at the back of his mind, ice cold water suddenly doused him from nowhere, immediately awakening his senses. He turned around to see Demyx signaling him to hurry up and do what he's supposed to do, his hand on his sitar, water clones going around and dousing anything that might've accidentally set on fire from the explosion (or anything smoking).

Nodding (and shaking out water from his eyes all the same), he jumped down from the second floor and landed a few feet from a sleeping Sora. As hexagonal blocks of light disappeared from the boy, he knew that the brunette had cast the spell a split second to save all four (or maybe three, Axel doubted Sora would try to save Roxas during that time) of them from the explosion. But that wasn't enough to save them from the sleeping powder.

Demyx landed with ease next to him, and he heard muffled words as the blonde rushed over to the two sleeping girls. He knew Demyx could hold his breath for a LONG period of time, being able to control water (which made him wonder just how long). He pulled out the vial of green antidote from his pocket and raised Sora's head, before tipping the entire contents into his lips. From the corner of his eye, he could see Demyx carrying Naminé bridal style and laying her down at least a foot away from Roxas, before rushing back for Kairi.

_Well, Sora. This is it. Don't become a dumbass now, _Axel thought as he laid Sora on the ground again, Demyx returning and laying Kairi next to him. Without warning, one of Demyx's water clones suddenly crashed its sitar over Demyx's head. The blonde musician spluttered, now doused with water and he hissed at Axel.

"Let's go! People are coming!" he whispered, and Axel nodded, rushing out. The dust of the sleeping powder had long settled, and the smoke had considerably cleared away. They high jumped onto the second floor again, and Axel picked up his chakrams and rushed at the broken door, completely wrecking it into splinters as they rushed out.

The moment they were out of the building, Demyx whipped out his hand, pulling the water from his body and making him dry again.

"What the hell? I ordered that water clone to warn me when someone was coming, not do that!" Demyx said irritably, pointing the water to a nearby clump of Farplane lilies to water them (and causing pyreflies to come out as the plants were disturbed).

"How else can a being made entirely of water possibly warn you in any way apart from crashing its sitar over your head?" Axel said, strapping his chakrams on his back again. Demyx opened his mouth to retaliate but stopped, seeing the sense of Axel's words. As the sophomore mumbled to himself about the lack of controls he had over his water clones, Axel looked back at the gym.

Somehow, he knew that that was all he could do. The rest was up to the four of them.

_Part 3_

"Kairi!"

Riku's heart hammered in his chest as he and Zell reached the gym, smoke seeping in from the space beneath the door. With a loud crash, Zell punched one of the doors right off the hinges, causing Riku to cringe. Zell can get scary when he gets carried away. But then again, Riku didn't blame him.

His aquamarine eyes flashed dangerously when he saw his younger sister's unconscious figure next to Sora's.

"Holy crap! Naminé!" Zell yelled, rushing to his own sister. "Naminé, are you alright?!"

Riku ran towards Kairi, and with little effort, lifted her up and started to carry her out. Just then the other SeeDs entered and he saw Reno gaze at the ruins of the gym in awe before bellowing.

"AXEL! WHEREVER YOU ARE, I WILL KILL YOU!" It seemed death threats were common today.

"Get anyone who is in danger to the Infirmary!" Leon yelled, bending over Sora and starting to carry him out while Cloud rushed over to check up on Roxas. Riku squeezed his way through the crowd, holding Kairi to his chest. His attention was caught by Mr. Mickey waving to him from his car. He immediately rushed over to the mouse.

"C'mon, Riku! Let's get her home!" Mr. Mickey said comfortingly, and Riku nodded. As Mickey opened the back door, he heard what was unmistakably Tifa's bloodcurdling scream.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GYM?!"

He laid Kairi down on the backseat and opened the passenger front door, Zell passing the car with Naminé in his arms and muttering inaudibly on how he was going to murder a certain blonde skater-boy as he ran to the main school building.

"Minnie will meet us there." Mickey said as he started the car and as Riku bended behind his seat to check up on his sister. It looked like she was unharmed. A wave of relief passed over him. As long as she was safe…explanations could wait later.

The car pulled out, Cloud and Leon dodging it as they ran with Roxas and Sora's unconscious figures in their arms respectively, while Quistis and Irvine started to rope off the place.

…yup, in Kingdom High, there never will be a dull moment.

_Exit_

Short, but hey, good enough for me. I'm finally finished with Act III! Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love you guys! You made me really happy, you know that? Until next time!


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